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UNITED STATES OP AMEEIGA. 



TO 

EXPLAIN THE HARMONY 

BETWEEN 

God's Immutable Decrees 

AND 

Mean's Free Agency; 

TOGETHER WITH A 

T.REATISE ON THE SABBATH, 

ITS ORIGIN, OBJECT, AND END, 

fit a ilje Cjjanne to tjje lire's latj. 






BY REV, ELISHA MORGAN, 
Oi the Black River Baptist Association, N. Y. 




A2TN ARBOR, MICH : 
EUHU B. POND, PRINTER, ARGUS OFFICE. 

1859 



^f 



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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year Eighteen hundred and fifty-nine, 
By ELISHA MORGAN, 
in the Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New York, 



I>REIHA.OE. 



During the first ten years of the Author's hope in Christ, 
he believed — as he now believes — that the Scriptures teach 
that God is holy, righteous, and perfectly just and good in all 
his ways ; and that he made man a free agent, and accounta- 
ble for all his actions ; and although he found many passages 
in the Bible indicating that some were elected or chosen in 
Christ to salvation, he could not think they meant what the 
language seemed to impart, From the doctrine that God had 
from the beginning decreed all things, it seemed to him nec- 
essarily to follow that God eternally determined to create 
some men for endless happiness, without regard to their con- 
duct, and to create others to be punished forever for sins 
which they must commit, because created for that purpose; 
and that if he did so he would be partial in his dealings, a 
respector of persons, and the cause and author of sin. This 
would destroy every idea of free agency or moral accounta- 
bility, exonerate man from all blame for his actions, and lead 
directly to fatalism, making man a mere machine, All these 
consequences, then to him apparently inevitable if decrees 
were admitted, were contrary to nature, and reason, and 
the rest of the Bible ; and he therefore believed that the Ian- 



11 PREFACE. 

guage must be figurative, or the sense too deep or obscure for 
one so young in religion or weak in intellect to discern, and 
hoped that study and reflection would in time enable him to 
understand what such texts really meant. For ten years ev- 
ery spare hour was devoted to reading the Bible, often 
until a late hour at night, and although he constantly labored 
very hard on a new farm, his mind was continually engaged in 
the study of the Bible, in reflecting upon, comparing, and con- 
necting different parts of it, and very often in studying upon 
that perplexing point. 

In the eleventh year of his profession of religion, and 
the thirty-first year of his age, he resolved to examine the 
Scriptures on that subject more critically than he ever had 
done, and to understand such texts in accordance with God's 
dealing with all men on the principle of justice, treating all 
alike, publishing the gospel to all, equally offering salvation 
to all who, complying with the gospel call, come to him, 
blessing only such with new hearts and forgiveness of sin, 
leaving the others to their own way, doing nothing more for 
those who come, until they have complied with his terms, 
than he did to those who did not comply, only, because 
they improved the light given to all in common, and con- 
tinued to receive and improve greater degrees of light un- 
until they came to Christ; which he would have done equally 
to all the others if they had equally improved the light they 
had. But in searching the Scriptures to prove that God 
treated all men alike, and to reconcile them to his views of 
justice, he soon found a difficulty, for he could learn nothing 
that Abraham did to induce God to call him out of Haran, 
rather than any other inhabitant of Haran, or to make him 



PREFACE. Ill 

the Father of the Faithful, so that Christ should be of his 
lineage, and in his seed all the families of the earth should 
be blessed, more than any other redeemed soul; or what 
Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or am^ of the prophets did more than 
than any other of the believing Israelites, to move Grod to 
bestow upon them the great blessing, the spirit of prophesy. 
Hence he saw that God did not deal, even with his children, 
alike, but conferred on them diversity of gifts by the same 
spirit, whereby he saw that plain scripture facts directly 
crossed his views of Grod's government. And when he con- 
templated the state of different nations of the earth, he saw 
that God did not favor the Asiatic, or the African nations, or 
the Aborigines of America, as he did some of the nations of 
Europe and immigrants to America. He then saw evidently 
that Grod favored some more than others, and not because the 
favored ones did better than others, for he could see nothing 
better in the favored nations, aside from Grod's working in 
them to will and to do of his good pleasure, to introduce or 
perpetuate the gospel among them, to christianize and civilize 
them, while Asia, where the gospel was first preached, and 
Africa have long sat in heathenish darkness and idolatry. 
He now greatly feared that he should not be able to reconcile 
his views of the Scriptures with matters of fact, as they 
appeared in Grod's conduct with his children, or the nations 
of the earth. 

This led him to examine the Scriptures on that point for 
weeks, with intense diligence, resolving to prove, if possible, 
that they supported his principle on that point without per- 
verting their language. He then examined them on the prin- 
ciple of church officers, as apostles and elders, but soon saw 



IV PREFACE. 

that God's electing or choosing, as noted in the New Testa- 
ment, was to spiritual blessings or salvation. His next effort 
was to prove by them conditional election, that men were 
elected to salvation when they complied with the condition, 
and were born of God ; but on further consideration he saw 
that electing or choosing to holiness or salvation was before 
the foundation of the world, but none were born of God 
previous to that period. He then became convinced that 
these texts meant what they literally imported, and must be 
received as such, or rejected as false, for he could see no other 
way without perverting their language, and he believed they 
were given by inspiration, as were all the Scriptures. 

But this thorough convincing by the Word, did not recon- 
cile him to the doctrine, for he still thought it must tarnish the 
purity and character of God , that it must be inconsistent 
with any command on man, more than on a brute or block ; 
and yet the commands were plainly given. Thus, after sev- 
eral weeks of intense study of the Scriptures on that subject, 
with an almost constant desire that God would lead him to 
know and love the truth, he arrived at that trying state of 
mind to think that the inspired Scriptures clashed. At the 
close of the following week, after great depression of spirit 
because of the above views, with constant heart-felt desire 
for the Holy Spirit to prepare him to receive the truth as it 
is written, though it seemed contradictory, and three months 
from his commencing his close study on the subject, if he was 
not entirely deceived, the Holy Spirit in great mercy shed 
abroad God's love in his heart to that degree that he was 
wholly reconciled to the doctrine of decrees, although he still 
thought the above mentioned apparent consequences followed. 



PREFACE, V 

He believed that whatever God purposed must be just 7 though 
he could not -^ee how. He then felt such a degree of grati- 
tude and thanksgiving to God as never before. He had felt 
the same in nature, but not in degree, since he had a hope in 
Christ, for he previously thought he had performed some con- 
dition as the cause why God forgave and saved him. But 
now he saw that God eternally determined it, and that God 
loved him when dead in sin, which moved him to the uncom- 
mon degree of gratitude which continues to the present time, 
.and whioh he hopes will continue eternally. 

He then commenced searching the Scriptures to discover, 
if possible, how election, and the command on all men to re- 
pent, and the call to all to come to Jesus and find rest and par- 
take of the waters of life freely, could be harmonized. This 
.course he pursued for several months in great obscurity of 
mind. The first ray of light on the subject that entered his 
mind to give any relief, was, learning from the Scriptures 
that all that prevented any one under the gospel from coming 
to Christ, was, that .they would not come to him for life ; and 
that a will not would as certainly prevent action while physi- 
cal ability was present, as the absence of physical ability 
would with a present will. The first mentioned inability is 
a crime, the last would be an excuse. 

He then began to see plainly the free agency of man, for 
man can do nothing — except by accident, for which he would 
not be accountable— without first determining or willing to do 
it. This view of the subject immediately removed the seem- 
ing clashing of the Scriptures, and cleared away the principal 
difficulty from his mind. He then read the Scriptures on 
these points with pleasure, investigating them as critically as 



VI PREFACE. 

as he was able, and the result is exhibted in the following 
pages, which he presents to the public, thinking, that if they^ 
tlo no good, they will do no harm, and he prays the blessing 
of G-od to attend them. 

An important feature of the following treatises, and one 
which adds materially to their length, is the quotation and in- 
sertion of the precise language of the portions of Scripture 
referred to, giving chapter and verse, in addition to expressing 
the author's idea, often substantially in the language of Holy 
Writ. To persons wishing to test the accuracy of the au- 
thor's views and see how far they agree with or are supported 
by the Bible itself, the insertion here of the words cited will 
save much time and labor. But the author's principal motive 
in swelling the body of the work by such quotations, is to 
render it more readily and more generally useful and availa- 
ble, as many persons may be induced to read in this connection 
the texts referred to, and see their force and application, and 
the full scope of the argument, who would not or could not 
take the time and trouble to examine them if mere references 
were inserted. Perhaps the diversion of the mind from the 
chain of the argument, by breaking off to examine quotations 
might tend as much as the delay itself to diminish the force 
or effect of the argument. As this work may be used as a 
defence of truth when attacked, as well as a weapon with 
which to attack error, it is deemed more useful to place the 
weapons in the hands of the combatant, than merely to advise 
him what weapons to use and inform him where he can obtain 
them ; as it is more convenient for the sick man, to have his 
physician administer the medicine ready prepared, than mere- 
ly to make a prescription, directing him where to obtain the 
medicines and how to prepare them. 



PREFACE. Vll 

The author trusts that the reader will overlook the errors 
and imperfections in the language and style of these treatises, 
when he considers that the author never studied grammar, 
or pursued any of the other studies now taught as aids to com- 
position ; that in his youth, and for some years after the war 
of our independence, schools were few and scattering, and 
reading, writing and arithmetic the only branches then gen- 
erally taught ; and that the school nearest to him was so re- 
mote that his education in those branches was necessarily 
deficient; that most of his life has been spent in labor, and 
his leisure hours in the study of the Bible, and that his 
general reading has been very limited. He is now very 
much debilitated both physically and in memory by age, 
having been over seventy-five years old when he commenced 
the following treatises, some five years since, 

AdaxMs, New York, a. d. 1859, 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 



Man is accountable to God, his creator, for all his actions. 
To be accountable he must be a free agent or act by 
design, not as an instrument or machine^ and therefore he 
must not be compelled ; for, if compelled, the act is not his 
act, but that of the compeller. Hence, he must possess all 
the physical and intellectual powers necessary to enable him 
to perform all that God requires of him m his word. 

He must have not only the ability to perceive, but the intel- 
lectual faculty necessary to consider and examine the objects 
presented to him through the medium of the senses or otherwise. 
This faculty is the eye of the understanding, Eph. i. 18, 
<l The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;" the 
faculty of reason to investigate objects when perceived, Isa, 
i. 18, " Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord ;" 
Eccl. vii. 25, " I applied mine heart to know and to search 
and to seek out wisdom and the reason of things;" the facul- 
ty to understand things when investigated, that he may 
know his obligations as declared in the Scriptures, Dan. 
xii. 10, " But the wise shall understand; 1 ' Luke xxiv. 45, 
" Then opened he their understanding that they might under- 
stand the Scriptures;" Acts viii. 30, "Understandest thou what 
thoureadest;" Matt. xxiv. 15, " Whoso readeth, let him under- 
stand;" and a faculty of memory to retain or keep in mind 
the obligation made known, 1 Cor. xv. 2, " If ye keep in 
memory what I preached unto you;" Isa. xxvi. 8, " The de- 
sire of our soul is to thv name and to the remembrance of 



Z THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

thee;" 2 Pet. i. 15, " Moreover, I will endeavor that ye 
may be able after my decease to have these things always 
in remembrance ; " also a capacity to judge whether what is 
examined agrees or disagrees with the rule given them, 
John vii. 24, " Judge not according to the appearance, but 
judge righteous judgment;'' 1 Cor. ii. 15, "But he that is spir- 
itual judge th all things;" vi. 2, " Do ye not know that the 
saints shall judge the world ; " also a faculty to love or hate 
objects that please or displease, acsording to the estimation, 
Deut. vi. 5, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thine heart;" Rom. xii, 9, "Let love be without dissim- 
ulalatien;" John iii. 20. "For every one that doeth evil 
hatheth the light; " and xv. 23, " He that hateth me 
hateth my Father;" also a faculty to believe or disbe- 
lieve a report or declaration (whether good or evil, 2 
Cor. vi. 8, "by evil report and good report") according to 
the estimation of evidence, Isa, liii. 1, " Who hath believed 
our report; " John xvii. -20, " For them also which shall be- 
lieve on me through their word;" John vi. 36, " Ye also have 
seen me and believe not;" xvi. 9, "Of sin because they be- 
lieve not on me ; " and a faculty to hope for a good prom- 
ised, 2 Thess. ii. 16, " Good hope through grace ;" Tit. i. 
2, "In hope of eternal life;" Heb. vi. 19, "Which hope we 
have as an anchor of the soul ; " to fear when a calamity is 
threatened, Heb. ii. 15, " And deliver them, who, through 
fear of death, were all their life time subject to bondage;" 
iv. 1, " Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us of 
entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short 
of it;" a faculty to rejoice in prosperity, Eccl. vii. 14, "In 
the day of prosperity be joyful;" xi. 9, " Bejoice, 0, young 
man, in thy youth;" 1 Pet. i. 8, " Ye rejoice with joy un- 
speakable, and full of glory ; " and for sorrow in adversity, 
Eccl. vii. 14, " In the day of adversity consider;" John xvi. 
6, " But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow 
hath filled your heart ;" Acts xx. 28, " Sorrowing most of all 
for the words which he spake that they should see his face no 
more ; " and a faculty to choose or refuse objects at pleasure, 
as they appear pleasant or unpleasant, Job xxxiv. 33, 
" Whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose;" Isa. vii. 15. 
** That he may know how to refuse the evil and choose the 






DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. d 



good ; " with a conscience, or moral sense, bearing witness to 
the virtue or vice of the act of the mind, and giving a sensa- 
tion of guilt or innocence according as he chooses that which 
the judgment decides to be right or wrong, Rom. ii. 15, 
■"Their conscience also bearing witness, their thoughts the mean 
while accusing or else excusing one another." If the under- 
standing be spiritual; Col, i. 9, " That ye might be filled with 
the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual under- 
standing;" the eyes of the understanding will be so enlight- 
ened, Eph. i. 18, " The eyes of your understanding being 
enlightened," that the judgment will decide according to 
truth. Hence, the conscience must be good, Acts xxiii. 1, 
"I have lived in all good conscience before God;" xxiv. 16, 
" Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience 
void of offence toward God and toward men;" 1 Tim. i. 5, 
" Charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience." 
Hence the sensation must be correct. But if the understand- 
ing be darkened, Eph. iv. 18, " Having the understanding 
darkened," Matt. vi. 23, " But if thine eye be evil thy whole 
body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that 
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness;" the judg- 
ment or decision cannot be according to truth, and therefore the 
conscience must be evil, Heb. x. 22, ''Having our hearts sprin- 
kled from an evil conscience ;" or defiled, Tit. i. 15, "But un- 
to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but 
even their mind and conscience is defiled," and consequently its 
sensations must be incorrect. 

That moral sense is a good definition of the term conscience, 
is evident from the figurative expressions used to describe an 
evil conscience in 1 Tim. iv. 2, — " Having their conscience 
-seared with a hot iron." When flesh is well, sound, and 
healthy, if used tenderly it gives a pleasant sensation ; if 
pierced with a pointed instrument it gives a painful one ; but 
when seared with a hot iron it is insensible to either tender- 
ness or harshness, for it has no sensation. He must also have 
a faculty to will or purpose, which governs all the intellectual 
faculties, except the conscience, (that the will cannot con- 
trol the conscience is evinced by the experience of every one ; 
for, when one does that which he knows to be wrong, though 
he would suppress conscience, it will reprove him by 



THE HARMONY BETWEEN 



unpleasant sensations,) together with the physical powers, as 
the feet, hands and tongue, so that they either rest or move at 
will or design. Neither the will or any other of the mental 
faculties can be forced, but must be voluntary. This power 
is essential, or indispensably necessary to free agency or ac- 
countability. Could it be forced it would cease to be volun- 
tary, and therefore not of the creature. The will is 
wholly influenced by motive, yet not in a mechanical way 
as the needle is moved by the magnet, but it must be by the 
consent or yielding of the will to the motive presented, which 
is nothing short of exercise of the soul ; for in the exercise of 
the will or choice, all virtue or vice consists. 

A person always chooses that which he then esteems the 
greatest good or pleasure among the many surrounding mo- 
tives present or in view. Therefore no person can be com- 
pelled or forced to sin by any being whatever. The motions 
of the body are only an index to, or an expression of the 
mind, and, aside from intention, bear no more relation to 
praise or blame than the motions of a clock; for they are on- 
ly instruments of the mind, Rom. vi. 13, " Neither yield ye 
your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but 
yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the 
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto 
God. 7 ' If the motive to which the mind consents is the glory 
of God, the act, whether of body or mind, w T ill be holy; but 
if it be selfish, the act will be sinful. 

That it is the design or intention of the act that charac- 
terizes or gives essential quality to the act, is evident from 
scripture testimony : Luke vii. 37, " And behold a woman 
in the city ( this woman was Mary, see John xi. 2,) which was 
a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Phari- 
see's house," ver. 38, "began to wash his feet with tears and did 
wipe them with the hairs of her head, and hissed his feet." 
This act was highly commended by the Savior, because she 
loved him. For, ver. 44, "he said unto Simon, seest thou this 
woman? I entered thine house, thou gavest me no water for 
my feet, but she hath washed my feet with tears;" ver. 45, 
" thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I 
came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet;" ver. 47, "Where- 
fore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven 



DECREES AND EEEE AGENCY, 

lier; for she loved much. " But the design of Judas in the 
same act was very different, therefore the act was most wicked. 
Matt. xxvi. 48, " Now, he that betrayed him gave them a 
sign, saying, whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he;" ver. 49, 
" And forthwith he came to Jesus and said, Hail, master! 
and kissed him." Luke xxii. 48, u But Jesus said unto him," 
(doubtless with an indignant frown,) " Judas, betrayest thou 
the Son of man with a kiss?" This act was so enormously 
wicked, and deserved such great punishment, that Jesus said, 
Matt. xxvi. 24, "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man 
is betrayed ! it had been good for that man if he had not been 
born." But although motives control the will they cannot 
change the state of the heart or affections. 

A motive to move or incline the heart to love an object, 
must be of that class which is lovely in the person's view, so 
that he is prepared to embrace or love it as soon as it is pre- 
sented to the mind, or it can have no such influence, but the 
reverse. Example : A pious, devoted christian enters a vil- 
lage, and stops in the street ; on the right is a meeting-house, 
on the left a tavern. One from the tavern invites him there , 
and, as a motive, tells him that certain persons are there 
drinking ardent spirits and gambling to know which shall pay 
the bill. This object is to him very disgusting. Immediately 
another, a christian with whom he is acquainted, invites him 
to the meeting-house, and, as a motive, says the minister, (of 
whom I have heard you say he is your favorite preacher,) is 
to preach there soon. This object is in accordance with his 
heart, and moves it to action immediately. Hence we may 
see the reason why all the motives combined which three worlds, 
Heaven, Earth and Hell, can offer of present or future hap- 
piness, and the terror of future misery, will not move the car- 
nal mind, which is enmity against God, Rom. viii. 7, to 
repent and turn to God, Acts xxvi. 20. He must be a new 
creature, 2 Cor. v. 17, and put on the new man which is re- 
newed in knowledge, Col. iii. 10; or in other words, have a 
new heart, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, " A new heart also will I give 
you." This shows the reason why the Savior soon let the 
Jewish ruler (who acknowledged him as a teacher come from 
God,) know that he could receive no saving instruction, 
even from such a teacher, unless he was born of God, John 



6 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

iii. 3, " Verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again 
he cannot enter the kingdom of God;" ver. 5, " Except 
a man be born of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom 
of God." 

The members of the body, except the tongue, can be 
forced, (the tongue cannot be forced to speak,) but not to sin, 
for then the act would be involuntary. The tongue is subject 
to the will and heart, and is that little member, James iii. 5, 
"Even so the tongue is a little member," with which we ex- 
press the thoughts of our hearts, Matt. xii. 35, "A good man 
out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good 
things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringetk 
forth evil things;" ver. 34, "For out of the abundance of 
the heart the mouth speaketh;" ver. 37, "For by thy words 
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be con- 
demned." The tongue of an evil man is an unruly evil, full 
of deadly poison, and is so " among the members that it de- 
fileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature," 
" and no man can tame it," James iii. 6, 7, 8. But God can 
tame it by creating the same men in Christ Jesus unto good 
works, Eph. ii. 10, and renewing them in the spirit of their 
minds so that they will put on the new man, Eph. iv. 23, 24; 
and from the good treasures of their hearts bring forth good 
things. They will then refrain their tongues from evil, and 
their lips that they speak no guile, 1 Pet. iii. 10. 

But some object, and say that men cannot be free 
agents, because accountable to God. (The word "free" is 
added to the word "agent" in the sense of "voluntary," 
to express the idea that there is no force or compul- 
sion in the act.) If they were not free agents they would be 
but instruments or machines, and the acts would not be theirs* 
but his who used them; therefore, they would not be account* 
able. Again it is objected, men cannot be free agents because 
they cannot do or have everything they may desire. Answer : 
If that power is necessary to constitute a being a free agent, 
God only can be such ; therefore all created intelligent beings 
must be only machines. 

But free agency does not consist in one's having the power to 
do or have everything he may desire, but in designing or intend- 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. i 

l\g, antecedent to the act, to do whatever he does. This 
alone renders him accountable to God, or any other being. 
Others confidently assert that free agency consists in the will 
having power to change or determine itself. If so, God 
cannot be a free agent, for he has not power in his will to 
change it, Job xxiii. 13, "He is in one mind, and who can 
turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth;" 
Mai. iii. 6, " I am the Lord, I change not." Besides, on that 
principle the will is the agent or actor, and not the crea 
ture. Either the will is a self-determining power, or it is 
determined by motive. If the former, motives are entirely 
useless, for if they had influence it would destroy the self 
determining power. Without some object as a motive there 
can be no intention or design in a creature ; therefore, admit 
the self- determining in the will, and all the human family 
must move, like the clouds or motes in the air, without object 
or intention. Hence, if there could be, on that principle, 
such a being as a friend, or an enemy, (I cannot see how there 
could be, for either friendship or enmity is the exercise of the 
soul, and is moved only by motive,) my friend would be as 
likely to thrust a dagger in my bosom as my enemy ; but if 
motives control the will, I am safe with my friend. I should 
think myself most unhappily situated to be placed in a world 
of beings in human shape possessed of self-determined wills, 
free from the influence of motive, for God himself could 
hardly tell what they would do. I should think them more 
dangerous than a world of lions and tigers. If there is no 
design or intention, the act must be entirely accidental, for 
which no being is responsible. Therefore, on the principle of 
self-determined power in the will, the preaching of the gos- 
pel must be entirely useless, for that is setting motives before 
men to move them to turn to God and obey him. 

To understand man's free agency in accordance with several 
declarations of the Scripture, particularly that of the Savior, 
John vi. 44, " No man can come to me except the Father 
which hath sent me draw him;" and to harmonize that 
with another from the same lips, v. 40, u And ye will 
not come to me that ye might have life," together with 
several others, one must clearly understand that there 
are two essentially different senses in which men are said to 



8 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

be incapable of doing things, in the Scriptures as well as in 
common conversation. These two kinds of inability are so 
different, one from the other, that one, howevor great, does 
not in the least degree lessen the obligation to obey a com- 
mand, or exciise the subject from blame for disobedience ; 
whereas the other, so far as it obtains or exists in the subject 7 
entirely destroys obligation and excuses from blame. These 
two kinds of inability have commonly been distinguished by 
metaphysicians by calling one a natural, and the other a moral 
inability, which distinction may be properly stated thus : 
Natural inability consists in or arises from want of under- 
standing, bodily strength, opportunity, or whatever may pre- 
vent our doing anything when we are willing and strongly 
enough disposed and inclined to do it. Moral inability, on the 
other hand, consists in the want of a heart, disposition, or 
will to do anything. Or, in fewer words, thus : Whatever 
a man cannot do if he would, in that he is under a natural 
inability ; but when all the reason why one cannot do a things 
is because he does not choose to or will not do it, the inability 
is of a moral nature. 

This word, cannot, is often used in common conversation, as- 
Well as in the Scriptures, when nothing is meant but unwil- 
lingness, in regard to both good and evil actions, G-en. xxxvii, 
3, "'Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all his children f 
ver. 4, "And when his brethren saw that their father loved 
him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not 
speak peaceably unto him ;" Acts iv. 19, " But Peter and 
John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the 
sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge 
ye ;" ver. 20, "For we cannot but spenk the things we have 
seen and heard," (This inability was only moral, for they 
could cease speaking were they disposed.) When one is 
asked to contribute something as a duty or favor to a suffering 
person, and has the means in the power of his hand, but is 
utterly averse to doing it, he generally replies, " I cannot.'' 
Does the person asking the favor and knowing the circumstan- 
ces, understand any other inability than unwillingness, and 
does he not blame him for that very reason?" whereas, if 
he was willing but had not the means, he would think him 
justified, The moral inability, or want of a heart, or will 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 9 

must and will as certainly prevent any person from doing a 
thing as any natural one possibly can ; for God has so consti- 
tuted the human family that they cannot move a limb of the 
body, not even the tongue, the most pliable member, in any 
accountable way, without first forming a design in the heart 
to do it. 

In some spasmodic diseases, as in the St. Anthony's Dance, 
the limbs may move notwithstanding the will and effort to 
keep them still, but every one sees that such persons are not 
accountable for such motions ; and it is as certain that when- 
ever any one wills or is determined to do a thing, and has 
both the intellectual and physical power to do it, (unless pre- 
vented by something aside from himself), that it will be done, 
as it would be that one would come to the ground who should 
fall from a high tower when there was nothing to save him 
from it. But it would be of an entirely different nature as 
to praise or blame. 

Because a man must do as he wills or determines to do, 
does that destroy his agency or freedom of action ? It is the 
very thing in which free agency consists, or the very essence 
of freedom. Either men's natural or moral ability to do, is 
the measure of their duty or obligation to God. If men can 
be required to serve God to the utmost limit of their intellec- 
tual and physical power or ability, they are bound to believe 
the gospel with all their heart, Bom. x. 10, " For with the 
heart man believeth unto righteousness ;" and to repent of 
sin, Acts vii. 30, " But now commandeth all men every where 
to repent and to love God;'- Deut, vi. 5, " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and serve him;" Matt. 
iv. 10, " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only 
shalt thou serve." But if moral ability or a willing mind, 
be the measure of duty, then men can only be required to do 
what they are willing to do. Hence all law requiring men to 
do what they are unwilling to do is tyranny, and punishment 
for neglect is oppression. Every law, both divine and hu- 
man, should be obliterated, and but one law remain for the 
universe, and that law should be that every being should do 
as he pleases. Bat it is plain truth that in such a state there 
could be no such thing as vice of virtue, sin or holiness, 



10 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

blame or praise, in the universe. Some assert that mem 
must have a moral ability, as well as a natural, or they are 
not accountable. 

To say that men have both natural a,nd moral ability is the 
same as to say they could do if they would and are sufficiently 
willing. Should that be the case, and the thing be not done ? 
no one could tell why it was not done. It must absolutely 
be an event without a cause. The Scriptures evidently ad- 
dress men in persuasive language, entreating them to come ta 
God, presenting, as motives to induce them, the great bles- 
sings of eternal life and glory, (which would be entirely in- 
consistent if they were willing but had not the requisite nat- 
ural ability), and consider their unwillingness as no excuse, 
but their great crime. If men had moral power, or were 
willing, whether they had natural power or not, argument or 
persuasion would be entirely useless; for, if willing they would 
not need it, and if they had do natural power, it would be 
perfectly improper or inconsistent. Hence we see the propri- 
ety of the language of the Scriptures, Isa. xxiv. 6, " And in 
this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a 
feast of fat things ;" Iv. 1, 3, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, 
come ye to the waters ; and he that hath no money come ye 
buy and eat ; yea, come buy wine and milk without money 
and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that 
which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth 
not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is 
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline 
your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and your soul shall live ;" 
ver. 7, " Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he 
will have mercy upon him;" Matt. xi. 28, 29, " Come unto 
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am 
meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your 
souls;" xxiii. 37, " 0, Jerusalem! Jerusalem! thou that 
killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto 
thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, 
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye 
would not;" Luke xiii. 3, " Except ye repent ye shall all 
likewise perish;" John v, 40, " And ye will not come to me 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 11 

that ye might have life; 7 ' vii. 37, " In the last day, that great 
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man 
thirst, let him come unto me and drink;" Acts xvii. 30, 
" But now" (God) " commandeth all men everywhere to 
repent;" 2 Pet. iii. 9, " The Lord is not willing that 
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance; " 
Rev. iii. 20, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock; 
if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come 
in to him." 

Notwithstanding these Scriptures cited, and many others, 
evince clearly that nothing but unwillingness prevents sinners 
from coming to God, yet some assert that they could not if 
they were willing; and that supposed inability — whatever it 
may be — they think necessary to exhibit the grace of God in 
regeneration, and therefore they have several objections against 
free agency, and cite the Scriptures in support of them. 
The first objection probably would be : All men by nature 
are sinners by the transgression of the first man. For by 
his first sin all men are partakers of what divines usually call 
original sin, out of which actual sin necessarily proceeds. 
For, the fountain being bitter, the stream must also be bitter. 
And for proof would probably cite Bom. v. 12, " Wherefore, 
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned." 
And as further testimony a number of others, as Bom. viii. 
7, 8, " Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for }t 
is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. $o 
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God ;" Eph. iv. 
18, " Having the understanding darkened, being alienated 
from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them 
because of the blindness (or, as Kendrick translates it, hard- 
ness,) of their heart;" 1 Cor. ii. 14, " But the natural man 
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are 
foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because 
they are spiritually discerned;" Jer. xiii. 23, "Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots ? then 
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil ;"~ 
Gen. vi. 5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man 
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the 
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually ;" Jotmxv. 5, 



12 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

"For without me ye can do nothing." And he would proba- 
bly add, does not this testimony prove that men could not 
£ome to God if they would ? 

Answer : Sin is supreme self- love ; holiness is its opposite, 
supreme love for God. I cannot conceive of either sin or 
holiness in any being antecedent to or aside from the exercise 
of the soul, which must be actual ; much less of a fountain of 
sin without exercise of the soul. Some have supposed origin- 
al sin to be a principle in man by nature, necessarily produ- 
cing actual sin. But a principle must be an action of the 
mind; a dead principle can produce no action either of the 
mind or body. An exercise of the mind is as much an act 
of the person as an act of the body. Both must be actual. 
Paul says, Kom. v. 19, "By the disobedience of one, many 
were made sinners;" (i. e. actual sinners, for there can be no 
others). Hence, I undertand that by the first sin of the first 
man all his posterity hereditarily inherit from him a predilec- 
tion or propensity to love themselves supremely, and to love 
no other being in the universe except in proportion as they 
view that being subservient to their own good or glory. 
Love cannot exist but by the exercise of the soul, and an 
hereditary exercise is as much the voluntary act of the per- 
son as any other act could possibly be. 

If any man has anything existing in him antecedent to an 
act of the mind or will, or independent of his choice, he can be 
or feel no more to blame for it than for a disfigured face, a 
withered hand, an infirm constitution, or any thing that he 
would not choose but cannot help. The first idea one can 
have of sin is a wicked intention of heart, and if that is not 
a blamable thing there is no danger of finding any thing in 
the human family that is so. 

The Bible heart is the affections, Matt. vi. 20, 21, "Lay 
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor 
rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through 
nor steal ; for where your treasure is there will your heart be 
also." It is plain that affection or love is on the treasure. 
Hence, love is the Bible heart ; and as love is an act of the 
soul or intellectual faculty, there can be no sin but actual. 
Hence the carnal mind is but an act of the soul, and the en- 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 18 

mity of it necessarily grows out of self-love. One asked 
Jesus, Matt. xxii. 36, " Which is the great conimandment?" 
He replied, ver. 37, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy heart and with all thy soul;" 1 Cor. xvi, 22, "If 
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema 
Maran-atha " (which both Dr. Grill and Butterworth expound, 
Cursed at the coming of Christ), which accords with Matt. 
xxv. 41, "Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire;" ver. 46, 
" These shall go away into into everlasting punishment." 

We see that G-od commands all men to love Jesus. Fur- 
ther, Acts xvii. 30, " God now commandeth all men every 
where to repent," and denounces the curse on all the disobe- 
dient, which tends to destroy the sinner's dearest object or 
interest, (which is to love himself supremely, and still be 
eternally happy), and must therefore necessarily excite his 
enmity against God ; for, whoever knew one to stand directly 
in the way of another's supreme object and not be hated? 
God stands directly in the way of the sinner's obtaining his 
dearest object, while continuing in sin. 

If supreme self-love is not sufficient to produce enmity 
against God, who makes such demand of all his creatures, 
and sanctions that demand with such curses, whatever did or 
can ? Nothing more was ever in Cain, Ahab, or Judas, or 
devils. Supreme self-love is that which hardens the heart or 
alienates the affections from God and darkens the understan- 
ding, through which the person is ignorant of spiritual things. 
The hard heart, or enmity against doing duty, is the film 
that covers the mental eye so that Jesus appears to the sin- 
ner like " a root out of dry ground, no form or comeliness 
nor beauty that they should desire him," Isa. liii. 2. A hard 
heart is the exercise of the intellect, therefore of the crea- 
ture; hence, it clearly implies agency in man. Therefore 
God commands sinners, Ps. xcv. 8, Heb. iii. 8, " not to hard- 
en their hearts;" but in Ezek. xviii. 31, commands them "to 
make themselves new hearts and new spirits." Hence we see 
why the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of 
God, for they are only spiritually discerned ; and the only 
reason why one who is accustomed to do evil cannot learn to 
do well any more than an Ethiopian can change his skin, is 
because of love to do the evil, whereby he chooses to do. 



14 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

The sinner never sees the strength of his self-love until he 
sees the necessity of loving God with all his heart or being 
eternally damned ; and then he thinks of coming to God and 
supposes he tries with all his might, but his self-loving heart 
will not yield; (no one ever tried to do a thing until he was 
willing to do it). He then sees the necessity of a new heart 
or he cannot be saved, and in view of his danger calls on 
God most earnestly to save him, and supposes he is willing 
to love God, but he mistakes a willingness to be saved so 
that he may escape damnation for a willingness to love God, 
which is quite another thing. None would choose eternal 
misery in preference to happiness. The sinner never sees 
himself utterly unable to come to God ( which is to believe 
God or love him, Heb. xi. 6, "For he that cometh to God 
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of all 
them that diligently seek him," and to seek God is very dif- 
ferent from seeking happiness in heaven, though often mista- 
ken one for the other,) till he sees that he is supremely selfish, 
that his most painful exercises arise from hatred of misery 
instead of sin, and love of happiness instead of God; and if 
ever he is willing to love God, he must be made so by some 
power that is under the direction of some being distinct 
from himself. 

Only let a sinner see his heart as it is, and he will find 
himself helpless enough, and on seeing the nature of the 
helplessness ( that it consists only in will not), he will find it 
so far from being of the nature of an excuse, that it is the 
very thing for which God condemns him to everlasting pun- 
ishment, and that most justly. He feels that if such an un- 
yielding heart would in any degree extenuate guilt in any 
being, every devil might plead it to his complete justification. 
When his heart is thus discovered his hopelessness and sin are 
seen to be quite consistent, and one just as great as the 
other, for, indeed, they are both one and the same thing. 
For the reason the sinner cannot love God with all his heart 
is because he will not. What he is to blame for is because 
he will not love God. Therefore it is evident that his inabil- 
ity to do and his sin in not doing are identically the same 
thing. 

This inability is entirely moral, and essentially different 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 15 

from natural, and will as certainly prevent doing a thing ; yet 
it is blamable, as it lias been previously shown. The exposi- 
tion of the most difficult texts renders it unnecessary to ex- 
amine others. 

It is plain that these Scriptures, when understood, show 
there can be no sin in man without his agency, and the objec- 
tion is shown to be invalid ; for, the Scriptures cited to support 
the objection serve only to prove the sentiment presented, 
that nothing but will not prevents sinners under the gospel 
from coming to Christ, and thus neglecting the great salva- 
tion," Heb. ii. 3, and demonstrating their wickedness, which 
cannot take place without their agency. 

But the objector may think if the Scriptures adduced to 
establish his position were shown only to prove the contrary, 
still he has another ojection to offer, which is that man must 
be regenerated or born again, which is the work of God and 
not of man. He thinks this is unanswerable, and would 
probably cite the following Scriptures as proof: Tit. iii. 
5, 6, " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, 
but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of 
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he 
shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior ;" 
and, he would probably ask, if God doos not wash and renew 
the sinner, were he willing could he come to God? And 
also cite John iii, 3, " Jesus answered and said unto him, 
verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again 
he cannot see the kingdom of God;" ver. 5, " Except a 
man be born of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God;" John i. 13, " Which were born, not of blood, nor of 
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" 
and, he would probably state, evidently of God alone, and 
inquire, if not thus born could they come if they were wil- 
ling ? John vi. 44, " No man can come to me except the Fath- 
er which hath sent me draw him," and if not drawn could h6 
come if he were willing? Eph. ii. 1, ''And you hath he 
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins;" ver. 5, 
" Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us;" and 
what can a dead man do unless quickened by the Spirit ? 
John vi. 63, <c It is the Spirit" (not man) "that quickeneth/* 



16 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

The Scriptures lend their whole might in support of this* 
position. 

Reply : I understand that in the act of regeneration the Ho- 
ly Spirit of God, who is love, 1 John iv. 8, " He that loveth 
not, knoweth not God, for God is love," comes into the heart 
of the sinner, making him spiritually minded, Rom. viii. 6, 
"To be spiritually minded is life" and peace, so that he dis- 
cerns spiritual things which makes him willing, Ps. ex. 3, 
" Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the 
beauties of holiness," which is the drawing of the Father, or 
God's working in them, Phil. ii. 13, " For it is God which 
worketh in you both to will and to do;" and if they have a 
willing mind they are accepted, 2 Cor. viii. 12, " For if there 
be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man 
hath, and not according to that he hath not." If the wash- 
ing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost is only 
giving a willing mind, or making one willing by God's power, 
unwillingness was all that was in the way, and all the ob- 
struction that is removed which hindered obedience. There- 
fore God's working in them to will, is only inclining them to 
exercise their agency aright, not to destroy it ; and this 
shows that the only reason why men need to be new creatures 
to be in Christ, 2 Cor. v. 17, is because they were unwilling 
to come to him ; therefore the propriety of Paul's saying, 
ver. 20, " As though God did beseech you by us, we pray 
you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 

If reconciliation is all that is necessary to be done, unre- 
conciliation is evidently the very essence of sin. Neither re- 
conciliation or unreconciliation can exist in any person but by 
his agency, or the act of his mind. And further : to be d^ad 
in sin is to be entirely disposed to love sin, which is the entire 
absence of all disposition to love holiness ; and the quickening 
or making alive, is the Holy Spirit changing the heart or 
disposition from loving sin to loving God or Holiness; so that, 
according to Rom. vi. 11, they reckon themselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ. 
I have examined the Scriptures adduced to support this ob- 
jection, and, like those cited to sustain the other one, so far 
from having any bearing against free agency; they are evident- 
Iv in its favor, 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 17 

The objector may reply to my answer to his last objection 
thus : If making a man willing to love God is what is im- 
plied in regeneration, being born again or the drawing of the 
Father, the work of God in making man a new creature is 
very small to what I had supposed. 

I answer, it requires the same power to remove from the 
heart the enmity of the carnal mind or the unwillingness to love 
God, that it did to raise Lazarus from the dead, John xi. 43, 
44, " He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth ; and 
he that was dead came forth," for they are dead in sin, 
Eph. ii. 1, "And you hath he quickened who were dead 
in trespasses and sins." None but God can quicken, John 
vi. 63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth." It is styled 
created, Eph. ii. 10, " For we are his workmanship, created 
in Christ Jesus unto good works." The Apostle illustrates 
the glorious power and grace of God in making men new 
creatures (thereby inclining them to believe, 1 John, v. 1, 
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God) 
in a very clear and beautiful manner in Eph. i. 18, 19, 20, 
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that 
ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what 
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and 
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us- ward, who 
believe according to the working of his mighty power which 
he wroguht in Christ when he raised him from the dead." 
One would think that calling it the power of God would suffi- 
ciently elucidate the the glorious work, but that does not ful- 
ly express his mind. He must add " the greatness of his 
power;" this surely describes it. No, nothing short of " the 
exceeding greatness of his power " will do. Certainly his 
mind must rest now. Not so ; it labors for a figure to convey 
more clearly the idea, and finds one, which is " the mighty 
power wrought in Christ when he was raised from the dead." 
He is now satisfied ; he has done the subject justice. 

These Scriptures sufficiently demonstrate the magnitude of 
the work of opening blind eyes, Isa. xlii. 7, which sinners 
have closed, Matt. xiii. 15, " and their eyes have they closed, v 
also Acts xxviii. 27, " because they hated the light;" John 
iii. 20, " For every one that doeth evil hatetli the light;" 
and Acts xxvi, 18, "To turn them from the power of Satan 
4 



<< 



18 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

unto God." If they had not closed their eyes, but had loved 
the light and been anxious to obtain it and could not, this 
could not justly have been required of them, nor could they 
be to blame for not seeing it unless God had first given them 
the power to do it, which would not have been of grace but 
what justice required whereon to ground obligation, and di- 
reetly contrary to Eph. ii. 8, " For by grace are ye saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift 
of God." 

But the objector is not satisfied, and may still say : If you 
have disposed of these objections and turned them to your own 
advantage, I have another of more weight than both of them 
together, which is that of eternal, personal, unconditional elec- 
tion of some men to eternal life, and leaving others ; and 
he would probably reason thus : The word elect signifies to 
choose, to select, to pick out, to take some from a number, 
and always supposes some left ; and he would probably sup- 
port his position by citing the following Scriptures : Rom. viii. 
29, 30, " For whom he did fore-know he also did predestinate 
to be conformed to the image of his son; moreover, whom 
he did predestinate, them he also called;" ix. 11, 12, 13, 
" For the children being not yet born, neither having done 
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to elec- 
tion might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth ; it 
was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is 
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated ;" xi 5, 
6, " Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant 
according to the election of grace, and if by grace, then it is 
no more of works : otherwise grace is no more of grace. But if 
it be of works, then it is no more grace : otherwise work is 
no more work;" also John xv. 16, "Ye have not chosen me 5 
but I have chosen you;" and Acts xiii. 48, " And as many 
as were ordained to eternal life believed ;" and another, Eph, 
i. 4, 5, " According as he hath chosen us in him before the 
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without 
blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the 
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself;" and furthei\ 
2 Thess, ii. 13, " But we are bound to give thanks always to 
God for you, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the 
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 19 

spirit and belief of the truth ;" and add 2 Tim. i. 9, " Who 
hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according 
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace 
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." 

On these Scriptures he would probably reason after this 
manner : Jacob was elected before he had done anything 
good, and those mentioned in Acts were ordained to eternal 
life before they believed. The Ephesians were not cho- 
sen yesterday, nor last week, but before the foundation of the 
world ; not after they were holy and without blame, but 
that they should be so, and predestinated, not after they were 
adopted as children, but unto adoption ; also, that the Thes- 
salonians were not chosen to be Patriarchs, or Prophets, nor 
Apostles, but to salvation, and add that the grace noted in 2 
Tim. was given to the subjects of it by purpose in Christ 
before the world began ; and then add, could those who were 
not elected or chosen to salvation, or predestinated unto adop- 
tion, come to God were they really willing ? Their situation 
demonstrates that men are not free agents, as does also Grod's 
manner of dealing with those who were chosen or pre- 
destinated. 

Suppose I should say to the objector, does not the first text 
you cited indicate conditional election ? Does it not suppose 
fore-knowledge to precede predestination, and therefore did 
not God foresee all those, who on hearing the gospel, would 
.-come to him, doing what he required of them, and then he 
would predestinate them to conform to the image of his Son? 
He would probably reply : That would make salvation to 
be of works ; not of grace, but debt, according to Rom. iv. 
4, " Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of 
grace, but of debt." Besides the soul that comes to Gi-od is 
conformed to the image of his Son ; for Paul says, Heb. xi. 
6, " For he that cometh to G-od must believe that he is, and 
that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him;" 
and Jesus says, Mark xvi. 16, " He that believeth shall be 
saved." Hence, after ( according to his fore-knowledge ) 
they had conformed to the image of his Son, which was per- 
forming the condition of justification and glorification, then 
to predestinate them to conformity would be useless. If 
God's purposes and fore-knowledge are eternal, they must ex- 



20 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

ist in the divine mind at the same instant in the order of 
time, but in the order of nature purpose must precede fore- 
knowledge. God must act by design, and if he had not de- 
termined to act, if his purpose respecting anything was un- 
settled, if his resolution was wavering, how could he fore- 
know that he should create a world, regenerate a sinner, or 
save a soul ? 

Should the objector inquire what pre-eminence has condi- 
tional election over unconditional, and I should reply there 
is a condition to be performed by the subject that he might 
be elected, then he would probably state that when any good 
was promised on the performance of a condition, he that per- 
forms the condition is entitled to, and has a claim on the re- 
ward. Hence, there can be no propriety in electing him to 
receive it. Therefore conditional election is only a fancy, 
and not found in the Scriptures. He might be disposed to 
present a figure from 1 Sam. xvii. When David, the son of 
Jesse, had performed the condition (of killing Goliah) for 
which King Saul had promised his daughter to be the wife 
of any one that should do it, and had brought Goliah's head 
to the King, and the King had said to him, for this noble act 
I will elect you my son-in-law. Would he have thanked the 
King for that favor ? Would he not rather have said, your 
daughter is mine ; I have won her at the price of my blood, 
and the risk of my life ; therefore your election is altogeth- 
er out of season, and quite too late. 

Since the objector has shown that conditional election 
would be entirely useless, and therefore has no place in the 
Bible, I will attempt to show that unconditional election 
(which he incontestably proved, if Scriptnre testimony will 
prove anything) has not the least tendency to destroy, or 
even curtail man's free agency, or to prevent any one from 
coming to or obeying God. 

The only reason why God needs to elect sinners, is the 
same why they need to be born again or regenerated, which 
is because the carnal mind is such enmity against God, Rom. 
viii. 7, " because the carnal mind is enmity against God," 
that it hates the light, and will not come to it, John iii. 20, 
" For every one that doeth evil hateth the light." Is not the 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY, 21 

mind, whether carnal or spiritual, the exercise of the soul ? 
It can be nothing else, and is therefore the essence of free 
agency. If they will not come to Christ, God must work in 
them to will and to do, or leave them to destroy themselves 
by neglecting the great salvation. This necessity evidently 
grows out of their wickedness or obstinacy, which is blama- 
ble if anything can be. Election is nothing more or less than 
a determination or purpose in God to regenerate certain per- 
sons, or predestinating them to conformity to the image of his 
Son, and to justify and glorify them. Certainly if regenera- 
ting them does not impair their free agency (and it has been 
clearly shown that it does not), a design to do it cannot. 
Regeneration has been clearly shown to be the work of God 
and not of man, John i. 13, " Which were born, not of the 
will of man, but of God ;" and if God regenerates men, he 
must do it either by design or accident. If by accident, no 
thanks to him. But the eternal God can act only by design ; 
and if by design, he must form the design before he acts. 
And if so, he must choose to regenerate men either because he 
sees some good in them, or without it. If there is good in man 
as the cause of God's design, regeneration, and of course the 
design to do it, would be uselesss ; for a good man cannot 
need regeneration, only the wicked can need it. And such 
good men would have whereof to glory, Rom. iv. 2, " For if 
Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory, but 
not before God;" and boasting would not be excluded, Rom. 
iii. 27, "Where is boasting then ? it is excluded." Hence 
the Scriptures are plainly against that theory; and God must 
form the design without beholding any good in man ; and if 
so, what difference can it make when he formed the design ? 
If men were not better one minute before regeneration than 
they were ten minutes before, why not as well choose them 
ten minutes before as one ? And if no better ten min- 
utes before, why not choose them an hour, or a day, or a 
year, or eternally, as one minute before? The lapse of 
time had made them no better. 

And if he has such a design, he had it eternally, or he is 
a changeable being and can form new designs. In that case 
there could be no safety in trusting in his Word, for he may 
alter his mind from what is written. If men were willing to 



22 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

come to and obey God, and could not, they could not be sin- 
ners, 2 Cor. viii. 12, " For if there be first a willing mind, it is 
accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to 
that he hath not;" and the command to be obedient would 
be unjust unless that which hindered their obedience (what- 
ever it might be) was removed ; and under such inability 
election could not be of grace, Rom. xi. 5, " according to the 
election of grace." If what is done in the sinner's heart to 
bring him to God, 1 Pet. iii. 18, ■■■ that he might bring us 
to God," is working in him to will, it is evident that unwilling- 
ness is all that hinders obedience; and certainly, to make 
some willing, can put no obstacle in the way of another's will. 
Surely election lays not the value of a straw in the way of 
the non-elect, for they all stand on as good ground as any of 
the human family could possibly have stood on if there nev- 
er had been such a thing as election. All the non-elect may 
* now come to God if they will. 

The taking away the stony heart out of the flesh, and giving 
an heart of flesh, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, is only according to Eph. 
iv. 23, renewing in the spirit of the mind. The mind or 
will (which is the same thing) cannot be forced, for it is the 
free or voluntary exercise of the soul. If it were possible 
to force it, then it could not be a will, for it could not be the 
person's own act or exercise; therefore he could not be ac- 
countable. And if such an operation as taking away the 
stony heart, or renewing in the spirit of the mind, does not 
affect men's agency in any degree, surely designing to do it, 
or in other words, choosing to salvation, choosing in Christ 
before the foundation of the world, predestinating to the 
adoption of children, ordaining to eternal life before believing, 
eould not ; for if the act could not, surely the design to act 
could not. Hence it appears plain that unconditional elec- 
tional, as taught in the Scriptures, is so far from having any 
bearing against free agency, that, when properly understood, 
it shows that God's dealings with men, so far as yet exam- 
ined, is in perfect harmony with it. 

But the objector is not in the least discouraged, and will 
probably say: If my first three objections, the sin of men, 
the necessity of regeneration, and unconditional election to 
salvation, which the Scriptures transcribed so plainly prove, are 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY, 23 

not deemed sufficient to show that men cannot be agents, I 
have one more, which I think cannot be refuted. It is, that 
God has ordained or purposed all events exactly as they take 
place, whether of good or wicked men. And to support 
this position he would probably cite Rom. ix. 17, 18, " For 
the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose 
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee^ 
and that my name might be declared throughout all the 
earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mer- 
cy, and whom he will he hardeneth." 

If I should inquire of him, can these two verses mean 
what they literally import ? must they not be figurative ? 
and say I do not understand them ; he would most probably 
reply, they are literal, and I think I can convince you that 
you do understand them. What is your objection against 
their literal meaning ? I should answer that if God had 
raised him up for that very purpose, he could not be faulty, 
for he could not withstand God; for Peter could not, Acts 
xi. 17, " What was I that I could withstand God?" He 
would undoubtedly say, it is literal, and you evidently under- 
stand what Paul meant to communicate ; for he has made 
out for you exactly your objection against it in ver. 19, 
u Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault, for 
who hath resisted his will V 3 Besides, if he did not mean to 
be understood literally, when he evidently foresaw the objec- 
tion which would be made, why did he not explain his mean- 
ing instead of reproving the objector, as in ver. 20 ? — " Nay, 
but man ! who art thou that replyest against God ? Shall 
the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou 
made me thus?' 7 and then so manifestly confirming it in ver. 
21, "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same 
lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dis- 
honor ?" and would say, hence it is evident that the sentence 
is literal. 

And he would then cite other Scriptures in proof, proba- 
bly Acts xv. 15, " Known unto God are all his works from 
the beginning of the world;" and he would probably say that 
knowledge that he should work infers the purpose ; for, if he 
had not determined, how could he know? And further, 
Luke xxiL 22, iA And truly the Son of man goeth as it was 



24 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

determined;" and also 1 Pet. ii. 8, " Even to them which stum- 
ble at the Word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were 
appointed." And to put the matter beyond all dispute, he 
would produce Eph. i. 11, "In whom also we have obtained 
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose 
of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own 
will." He would probably define the word all as Paul did 
in Heb. ii. 8, " Thou hast put all things in subjection under 
his feet ;" for, in that he put all in subjection under him, he 
left nothing that is not put under him; comprehending 
everything. 

I acknowledge that the Scriptures cited on the objector's 
part demonstrate the fact that God has purposed all events to 
take place exactly as they transpire. But the question is, 
does God's purposing events affect man's free ageney ? The 
objector thinks it does; and asserts that if men's actions are 
purposed of God, they must act just so, and no other way. 

How, then, can men be free in their actions ? This state- 
ment the Armenian will readily endorse. Both agree that 
if God has purposed men's actions, they must be under neces- 
sity of acting as they do ; and the exclusion of fr ee agency 
must certainly be the consequence ; for decrees and free agen- 
cy are as contrary, one to the other, as heat and cold, light 
and darkness, fire and water. For both think that if men's 
actions are purposed of God, it crushes their agency as cer- 
tainly as water will quench fire ; and that if men are free 
agents, it as certainly destroys decrees; for (both think) if 
either is true, the other is false. 

Although they agree on a starting point, that decrees and 
agency clash, yet like two travelers turning back to back, 
they take directly opposite courses. Neither of them appears 
to see any difference between a moral necessity or a deter- 
mination to do, and a natural necessity or being forced 
against the will. The objector voluntarily receives the doc- 
trine of God's purposes with the supposed consequences, while 
the Armenian as voluntary rejects the doctrine because of them, 
The objector who receives the doctrine with the supposed 
consequences has a very ancient example for his faith in Jer, 
vii. 8, 9, "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and 
swear falsely "—"'and come and stand before me in this 



DECREES AND FREE AGENC1'. 25 

house, which is called by my name, and say, We are deliv- 
ered to do all these abominations ?" But he is told, ver. 8, 
he "trusts in lying words that cannot profit." He relies on 
those Scriptures cited and transcribed to support uncondi- 
tional election and God's eternal purposes, and is well pleased 
with them, and thinks they mean what they say. But if 
asked what he thinks of those Scriptures cited and tran- 
scribed to support agency, he would probably reply, they are 
obscure passages , they seem to imply man's agency, but can- 
not mean it, for they would contradict the others ; I do not 
understand them. 

On the other hand, the Armenian equally relies on those 
Scriptures cited and transcribed to support man's free agency, 
and is equally pleased with them, and esteems them as highly 
as his opponent does the opposite ones, and feels certain that 
they mean what they say. But if asked what he thinks of 
tbose cited to support the opposite side, he would probably 
say they are some of Paul's hard things, which Peter declared, 
2 Pet. iii. 16, "In which are some things hard to be under- 
stood;" and I cannot understand them. They cannot mean 
what they say, for they would contradict free agency. 

Thus we see that one party treasures up some parts of the 
Bible with pleasure, and cleaves to them with delight, while 
he wishes other parts of it had not been left so mysterious ; 
for his opponent will refer to them to support a false theory, 
and he cannot clearly refute them without perverting the lan- 
guage. The other is as much delighted with those which his 
opponent deems difficult, because he sees them clearly and 
they manifestly support his cause ; but he is equally at vari- 
ance with those which the other esteems lovely, and concludes 
that the hard things contained in them must ever remain ob- 
scure. Hence we see that both of the parties are reconciled 
to and delighted with parts of the Scriptures, but are at 
variance with other parts, and are thus earnestly contending 
for the faith once delivered to the saints, according to Jude, 
ver. 3, and " exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for 
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." 

But the man who is well acquainted with the Bible on both 
sides of this difficult question, marches through the Scrip- 
5 



26 THE HARMONY BETWEEN: 

tures with majestic sway, and says that both God's purposes 
of all the acts of men, and their free agency and accountabil- 
ity to God, are plainly taught in the Scriptures, and are 
truth, and perfectly consistent doctrines. Both parties ex- 
claim : Make that appear if you can. We think these two- 
classes of Scriptures just as irreconcilable as light and dark- 
ness, fire and water. If they are in harmony, that harmony 
never was or can be seen by any man. 

An attempt to reconcile seemingly discordant Scriptures 
will now be made. It has been shown on a former page that 
neither sin nor holiness consists in the actions, but in the in- 
tentions or designs in doing the act, as has been clearly dem- 
onstrated in the circumstance of both Mary and Judas kissing 
Jesus from very different designs. The design or intention 
evidently characterizes the act, constituting it either holy or 
unholy, virtuous or vicious; for actons, aside from in- 
tentions, are no more virtuous or vicious than those of a clock, 
as before stated. Keeping that fact in view, let us examine 
the Scriptures. Acts vii. 52, "Stephen inquires of the Jews, 
which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? 
and they have slain them which have shown before of the com- 
ing of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betray- 
ers and murderers." The Just one is evidently Jesus, Acts 
xxii. 4, " And he said, the God of our fathers hath chosen 
thee, that thou shouldst know his will and see that Just One, 
and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth." 

If Stephen spoke the truth the Jews murdered Jesus. In 
Acts iv. it is recorded that Peter and John were brought be- 
fore the Jewish Council for healing the lame man, and after 
a command to teach no more in the name of Jesus, and 
threatened if they did ; and being let go to their own compa- 
ny, and reporting what was said to them, they prayed and 
repeated what God had said by David respecting the heathen 
and the people, and in ver. 27, 28, "For of a truth against 
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast annointed, both Herod 
and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Is- 
rael, were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and 
thy counsel determined before to be done." If the Apostles 
spoke the truth when addressing God, he had determined that 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. Z i 

the Jews should murder Jesus, as Stephen said they did. — 
Peter, when filled with the holy spirit on the day of Penta- 
cost, Acts ii., after declaring from the prophecy of God the 
pouring out of the spirit, called the attention of the people, 
ver. 22, to what he was about to say of Jesus, and appealing 
to their knowledge of the facts, says, ver. 23, " Him, being 
delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of 
G-od, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and 
slain." In the 23d verse alone, the doctrine that God had 
determined some of the acts of men, and also their agency 
or wickedness in doing the very things which he had deter- 
mined they should do, are plainly taught, as also in Luke xxii. 
22, " Truly the Son of man goeth as it was determined, but 
woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed." 

If the plain, definite, unequivocal language of Scripture 
•«an prove anything, surely the passages cited and transcribed, 
Acts vii. 52, and iv. 27, 28, and ii. 23, prove unmistakably 
and beyond contradiction that God determined and fore- 
knew that the Jews should kill Jesus (who is the Prince of 
life, Acts, iii. 15), and that they were wicked in doing it. In 
the same manner that it can be shown that God could pre- 
ordain or pre- determine tjiat act and yet the Jews be guilty 
in doing the purposed act, it can be shown that God can pur- 
pose the act or acts of any man or men and yet the actor or 
actors be wicked in doing the purposed act or acts, whatever 
they may be. 

Had the design of the Jews in taking the life of Jesus 
been to glorify God, because they loved him as their Savior, 
the act would "have been most glorious. When they saw Je- 
sus, had they said, this is the Son of God ; he is our Savior ; 
we love and reverence him with all our hearts, because he is 
good, holy, and merciful, and the thought that he has come 
to die for us greatly increases our love and pity for him ; we 
heartily repent that we ever sinned against such a holy 
and loving God, for which we must be eternally damned, or 
he must take a body, come into the world and die for us (all 
this they might have known had not their understandings 
been darkened through their alienation from the life of God, 
Eph. iv. 18, whereby they could not "discern the signs of the 



25$ THE H Alt MO NY BETWEEN 

times;'' Matt. xvi. o); and we heartily pity him because he 
must suffer death for sinners; and what adds extremely to 
our sorrow, so that we can hardly endure it, is that God has 
determined that we shall put him to death. How can we en- 
dure the thought of taking the life of our Savior? But, as 
we love God, we must for his glory fulfill all his designs re- 
specting us. 

Had they thus, with hearts filled with love to God and the 
'Savior, and pity for him in his sufferings, and repentance 
for their past sins, and with a design to glorify him, which 
was their duty in everything they did, slain him, it would 
have been a more meritorious act of obedience to God than 
was ever done by any of Adam's posterity. Abraham's offer- 
ing up his son Isaac, as clearly delineated in Gen. xxii., par- 
ticularly ver. 12, " For now I know thou fearest God, seeing 
thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me;" 
ver. 16 is to the same import, and the blessing follows in ver. 
17, " In blessing I will bless thee," ver. 18, "And in thy 
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," was certain- 
ly the greatest act on record of self-denial and obedience to 
God, that was ever done by man ; and the blessings noted 
are the greatest evidence of it that God ever gave to any man; 
so that it is said, Rom. iv. 11, "that he might be the Father 
of all them that believe," and will be handed down as such 
to the latest generation. Had the Jews acted, in killing the 
Prince of life, from the same motive, principle, or intention, 
that Abraham did in offering up his son, Heb. xi. 17 (which 
was to obey and glorify God), it would have been an act of 
self-denial and obedience to God as much greater than Abra- 
ham's was, as a christian's love to his Savior exceeds his love 
to his son. 

They manifestly had no such motive, intention, or principle, 
but quite the reverse. They had carnal minds, which were 
enmity against God, Rom. viii. 7, and hated him because he 
testified that their works were evil," John vii. 7; and 
would rather have Barabbas, a murderer, Mark xv. 7, 11, 15, 
released from prison and running at large, than Jesus, who 
taught them that if they believed not they were condemned 
already; because they believed not in the only begotten Son 



& 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 29 

of God, John iii. 18, and must therefore die in their sins, 
viii. 24. Hence they were as voluntary or unconipelled in 
that act as any being possibly could be in any act whatever, 
and as wicked as they possibly could have been if God had not 
purposed, or known anything about it, until it was done. — 
Hence they were entirely free agents. 

Let us follow them to Judgment, and contemplate their 
probable plea there. Suppose the Judge to charge them with 
the crime of murdering his Son, the highest crime that any 
man was ever guilty of (except blasphemy against the Holy 
Ghost); and in reply, they inquire, Lord, was it not deter- 
mined we should do it, that the Son of man should go thus ? 
The Judge would probably reply : Yes, but did you know 
this, and do it because you loved me and my Son, and to 
obey our command? Our command was, 1 Cor. x. 31, 
" Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do 
all to the glory of God." Did you take his life to honor and 
glorify me ? On reflection, they would problably reply : 
We thought that if we observed the law Moses gave us, we 
certainly should be in favor with God, and have eternal life. 
But he taught a very different doctrine, that we must be born 
again, John iii. 3, 5. That he was the way and the truth and 
the life ; that no man could come unto the Father but by him, 
John xiv. 6 ; also that we could not come unto him except 
the Father which sent him draw us, John v. 44 ; and further, 
that except we ate his flesh and drank his blood we had no 
life in us, John vi. 53. This teaching so excited our enmity 
against him, that he appeared to us like a root out of dry 
ground — no beauty that we should desire him, Isa., liii. 2; 
und we did not believe him, but thought him an impostor and 
determined to rid the world of him, and therefore could do 
no other way but put him to death. 

The Judge would probably reply : Out of your own 
mouths I will judge you, ye wicked and perverse servants, 
Luke xix. 22. You acknowledge your enmity against him, 
and of course against me. Could enmity be in you without 
your choice, or the exercise of your souls, or without your 
own acts? Could my purposes, or decrees and fore-knowl- 
edge, force your wills or choice ? If they could, it would 



30 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

not be or have been your wills, but only mine; for force or 
compulsion of a will would immediately destroy it. And 
probably he would further say that '"the law was not made for a 
righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the 
ungodly and for sinners," 1 Tim. i. 9; "It was added because of 
transgression till the seed'* (which was Christ) " should come," 
Gal. iii. 19. Therefore neither life nor righteousness could 
be given by it, ver. 21. It was only a schoolmaster to teach 
men to go to Christ that they might be justified by faith, ver. 
24. But Jesus taught you the truth, and ye believed it not, 
John viii. 45, 46. He spake to you and did among you the 
works which no other men did, and you have seen and hated 
both him and his Father; therefore you have no cloak for 
your sin, John xv. 22, 24. Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels, 
Matt. xxv. 41. 

But the objector may inquire, was it not necessary that 
God should as directly impart that wicked disposition into 
their hearts to do that thing, as it is that he should impart a 
holy one into the heart of him that is born of God ? 

I answer, no. For all men possess sufficient enmity against 
God to commit every species of wickedness (unless he with- 
holds them from it as he did Abimelech, Gen. xx. 6, "For I 
also withheld thee from sinning against me,") without his 
tempting them with evil (surely the serpent will bite without 
enchantment; and a babbler is no better, Eccl. x. 11), which he 
cannot do, James i. 13, "Let no man say when he is tempted, 
I am tempted of God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, 
neither tempteth he any man." It was as unnecessary as it 
was for God to put a lying disposition into that lying spirit 
that would go and persuade Ahab to go up to Ramath Gil- 
ead, 1 Kings xxii. 20-22. All the spirit needed was liberty 
to go, he was willing ; or to inspire Shimei to curse David, 
when God had said to him, curse David, 2 Sam. xvi. 5-10. 
All that was necessary in that case was for God to place Da- 
vid in a situation that Shimei did not fear him ; the disposition 
of heart was already there : or to incline Satan to try Job's 
patience, to see if he would not curse God to his face, Job 
i. & ii. chapters. Satan was previously an adversary to the 
righteous, 1 Pet. v. 8, " Becanse your adversary, the Dev- 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 31 

il, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may 
devour." 

Jesus gives a further description of Satan and his children 
in John viii. 44, " Ye are of your father, the Devil, and the 
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the 
beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no 
truth in him ; when he speaketh, a lie he speaketh of nis own, 
for he is a liar and the father of it." If that is the Devil's 
disposition, all his children would naturally possess the same 
without God's diffusing it into their hearts. The Jews readi- 
ly embraced the first opportunity to destroy Jesus. 

The Scriptures already presented clearly demonstrate both 
God's purposes and man's free agency, yet I will mention a 
a few passages of Scripture which clearly show that al- 
though God and men both purpose the same act, yet their in- 
tentions or designs in having the objects of their purposes ac- 
complished are often directly opposite to each other. God's 
intentions or designs are always good; men's are very often 
very evil. Joseph's statement to his brethren when they ac- 
knowledged their wickedness in selling him into Egypt, is in 
point; Gen. 1. 20, "Bnt as for yuo, ye thought evil against 
me, but God meant it unto good." Much to the same pur- 
pose is Prov. xvi. 9, " A man's heart deviseth his way, but 
the Lord directeth his steps." A part of Isa. x. is full to 
the point ; ver. 5, " 0, Assyrian ! the rod of mine anger, and 
the staff in their hand, is mine indignation;" ver. 6, "I will 
send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the peo- 
ple of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, 
and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of 
the streets;" ver. 7, "Howbeithe meaneth not so, neither 
doth his heart think so ; but it is in his heart to destroy and 
cut off nations not a few;" ver. 8-11 clearly shows the As- 
syrian's object and design in accomplishing it; ver. 12 shows 
how God would punish him for his unholy, selfish intention or 
object in doing the very thing he sent him to do; " Wherefore, 
it shall come to pass, that when the Lor d hath performed 
his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will 
punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, 
and the glory of his high looks." 



W4 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

Bnt G-od's hardening Pharaoh's heart is the hard case. It 
has been shown from the Scriptures, on a previous page, that 
the heart, in theology, is the affections, which cannot exist 
without the exercise of the soul or intellect, and therefore 
cannot be forced or compelled. If it could possibly be com- 
pelled, it would not be affection or heart. Hence the being 
(whoever it might be) compelling or forcing it must be the 
only agent or actor, and consequently the only virtuous or vi- 
cious one in such case. If God and man act together in the 
same thing, there must be two agents ; for man can no more 
act without design than G-od. Hence, although God hardened 
Pharaoh's heart, yet it could be done only in the exercise of 
his soul or affections, and therefore by Pharaoh's own act. 

The first move made by God tending to harden Pharaoh's 
heart, of which there is any account given in the Bible, was 
the demand to let Israel go and serve him. Hatred is a hard 
heart, Ezek. iii. 7, "For all the house of Israel are impii- 
dent and hard hearted." Love is a tender heart, Eph. iv. 2, 
" With all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, for- 
bearing one another in love;" ver. 32, " And be ye kind one 
to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another." Had 
Pharaoh loved God with all his heart as was his duty, Matt, 
xxii. 37, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy G-od with all thy 
heart," he would cheerfully have submitted to the demand im- 
mediately. But seeking" his own, and not the things which 
are Jesus Christ's, Phil. ii. 21, and having six hundred 
thousand servants, Exod. xii. 37, who were his bondmen, 
Deut. vi. 21, "We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt," the 
demand to let let them go (which was perfectly right, for 
they were G-od's people) immediately excited hardness in his 
heart, Exod. v. 1, 2, "And afterward, Moses and Aaron went 
in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord G-od of Israel, let 
my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wil- 
derness. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should 
obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord; nei- 
ther will I let Israel go." And verses 4-9 plainly show how 
that demand hardened his heart, by the voluntary exercise of 
his intellectual faculty, which, it has been shown, could not 
be forced. It evidently excited anger, as appears also in ver- 
ses 22, 23; ^ And Moses said— Lord, since I came to Pha 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 33 

raoh to speak in thy name he hath done evil to this people." 
The act of turning all the waters in the rivers of Egypt into 
blood, Exod. vii. 20, a just calamity inflicted on him for his 
refusal to obey the command, had the same effect on his heart; 
it served only to harden it. And each of the eight following 
calamities, mentioned in chapters viii. to x., only exasperated 
him the more. But under the last, mentioned in chap, xii., 
he yielded for the time being. Hence it is evident that the 
manner in which God hardened Pharaoh's heart was in dealing 
with him in a righteous manner when he was wicked, thereby 
exciting his enmity. Had Pharaoh been full of the 
Holy Ghost, as Stephen was when in the hands of his en- 
emies, Acts. vii. 55, God's righteous dealing with him would 
not have hardened his heart ; for Stephen said of his murder- 
ers, ver. 60, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." 

Hardening Pharaoh's heart in this manner, could not in the 
least degree infringe on his free agency or volition. Moses 7 
account of God's dealing with Pharaoh is, that God four 
times told him that he would harden Pharaoh's heart; and 
he seven times says, God hardened his heart ; and he three 
times says, Pharaoh hardened his own heart ; and he four 
times says that his heart was hardened, without saying by 
whom, whether by God or by Pharaoh himself. 

Both the objector and the Arminian think that after God him- 
self had hardened Pharaoh's heart, and raised him up for that 
same purpose, that he might show his power in him, and that 
his name might be declared throughout all the earth, then to 
fault and blame him (for they think him blameless on that 
account), and inflict ten such calamities or judgments on him, 
and after he had yielded and let Israel go, then to harden 
his heart again, Exod. xiv. 4, " And I will harden Pharaoh's 
heart that he shall follow after them," and so drown him in 
the sea, was unreasonable, tyrannical, and cruel. 

This opinion is because, through bias of mind to a favorite 
system, they do not discern what hardness of heart is, or 
how it is effected. But, from such a prejudiced tribunal, let 
us turn to Pharaoh's own testimony in favor of God and 
against himself, Exod. ix. 27, " And Pharaoh sent and called 
for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them : I have sinned 
6 



34 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

this time ; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are 
wicked ;" chap. x. 16, " Then Pharaoh called for Moses and 
Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord 
your God, and against you." This testimony of Pharaoh 
against himself is the best that the nature of any case can 
admit, and is worth more than that of thousands of biased 
witnesses of whatever name, whether Fatalists or Arminians. 
But Pharaoh is not the only one that God has raised up to 
show his power, that his name may be known. Job's calam- 
ities were as great as Pharaoh's, but he manifested a directly 
opposite spirit. When the tidings came, Job i. 13-22, of 
the loss of all his oxen, and sheep, and cows, and servants with 
them, together with the death of all his sons and daughters, 
he fell on the ground and worshiped, and said, " the Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord, In all this Job sinned not nor charged God 
foolishly." It did not harden his heart, though Satan thought 
in that case, ver. 11, he would curse God to his face. When 
smitten with sore boils, chap. ii. 7, from the sole of his foot 
unto his crown, although Satan thought he would curse God 
to his face, he still held fast his integrity. For his wife said 
unto him, ver. 9, " Dost thou still retain thine integrity ?" 
(and she, possesing a hard heart like Pharaoh or Satan, said), 
" Curse God, and die." It is plain that similar dealings of 
God, which hardened one man's heart, made another tender 
hearted. 

The Apostle has illustrated this by an excellent figure, in 
Heb. vi. 7, 8 : " For the earth, which drinketh in the rain 
that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for 
them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God." — 
But that which (under the same sun and rain, Matt. v. 45, 
" for he maketh the snn to rise on the evil and the good, and 
on the just and on the unjust '') beareth thorns and briars 
is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be 
burned," Heb. v. 8. 

Whether I have exhibited Pharaoh's case in accordance 
with the Scripture and man's agency, or not, every reader 
will judge for himself. As high a state of fatalism as any 
man ever plead to me as an excuse for sin, was, that af- 



DECKEES AND FREE AGENCY. 35 

fcer reflecting on the Scripture and reason, he came to the 
conclusion that God gave him his heart as it was, and that as 
he did not make it he could not alter it, for he was not an 
agent, and therefore not accountable, and hence not to blame, 
for God only could change it ; and (using a figurative ex- 
pression) he must sit down and wait for God. Let us follow 
such a man to Judgment. The Judge inquires, why did you 
not attend to my commands to love and obey me ? He replies 
as above stated, that he loved himself, and concluded he was 
not an agent, and could not alter his heart. The Judge in- 
quires again, was not that conclusion an exercise of your soul, 
and not forced on you ? He must answer yes. The Judge 
replies, was you not an agent in that conclusion ? He must 
see that he was. 

But I anticipate another objection, coming from the oppo- 
site side. That objector says, if election as taught in the 
Bible is truth, as you have admitted, still it ought not to be 
preached, for it is very injurious to community. It is liable 
to be abused, and may discourage men from seeking God, 
and tempt them to sit down without any exertion ; it 
makes more infidels and universalists than all other doctrines 
taught. 

To the last clause of the objection, I assert that it is not 
preaching election that has that effect ; it is that they do not 
believe it. If they believed it, it would have directly the 
contrary effect ; for it teaches directly to the contrary. But 
it is their enmity against that, as well as other parts of the 
Bible, which is the cause, so far as that doctrine is con- 
cerned. What doctrine of the Bible is not liable to be 
abused through the enmity of the carnal mind ? Shall we, 
then, suppress the whole ? Tell me some other things. Has 
God revealed this truth ? and has he done it for the benefit 
of the world? Are you wiser than God ? Has he anywhere 
authorized ministers to cover a part of his revelation ? (Paul 
said to the Elders of Ephesus, Acts, xx. 26, 27, "Wherefore, 
I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood 
of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all 
the counsel of God) and if not, can your advice be a suffi- 
cient warrant ? Do you think yourself authorized to give 



36 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

advice in a case which God has decided ? Take a little more 
liberty, and advise the Author of the Bible to recall a part of 
his revelation ; and, as a motive to move him, tell him that 
you do not like it, and that you know of others that do not; 
and that if he will recall it, and employ you to furnish sub- 
stitutes for it, you could prepare some that people would like 
much better, and which, of course, would make converts much 
faster. If he should take your advice, you could answer that 
question which Paul asked in such a triumphant manner, 
as though it was unanswerable, Rom. xi. 34, " For who 
hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his 
counsellor?" 

But the same objector has another objection, which he deems 
unanswerable. He would probably say, you have acknowl- 
edged it, as proved from the Scriptures, that| God|has from 
the beginning chosen some men to eternal life, irrespective of 
any good in them,, and left others, and that all are equally 
sinful ; which, if a fact, evidently decides him to be a respec- 
ter of persons, which the Scriptures plainly declare he is 
not. And in proof, he would probably cite Acts x. 34, 35, 
" Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons;" 
and Rom. ii. 11, "For there is no respect of persons with 
God;" 1 Pet. i. 17, " And if ye call on the Father, who, 
without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's 
work." Therefore, I think the Scriptures that mention elec- 
tion must be figurative, not literal ; for if literal, they would 
contradict those which plainly declare him no respecter of 
persons. Reconcile these two clashing statements; show 
their consistency or harmony if you can. 

Reply: The consistency or inconsistency of the Scrip- 
ture statements must depend wholly upon the definition of 
the word, respect. I have often met with this objection ver- 
bally, and I uniformly inquire of the objectors how they un- 
derstand the phrase, Respect of persons ? They as uniformly 
reply that it is preferring one above another, when they are 
both alike. I think directly the opposite. It is preferring 
one above another, because he is esteemed letter than the 
other. If their definition is correct, I will abandon the doc- 
trine of unconditional election. If my definition proves to 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY, 37 

l>e correct, they ought to abandon their opposition or objection 
3 gainst it. 

I will test the point, first in things. Suppose I owe the 
the objector a dollar, and I present to him in my hand two 
dollars, and say, you may take which you please. On exam- 
ination he sees they were both coined in the United States 
mint, that both bear the same date, and that there is no dif- 
ference between them. Can he prefer or respect one above 
the other ? Let candor judge; I will abide the decision. — 
Suppose I make him a present ; and in a like manner hold 
out to him a dollar and a fifty-cent piece, and say, take which 
you please. He would certainly prefer or respect the dollar, 
because it is of double value to the other. I will try the 
point by persons. Suppose the objector wishes to hire a man 
a year, and two men offer themselves to him ; he knows them 
both to be of equal health, strength, intellect, willingness to 
labor, understanding his business, equal in every qualifica- 
tion, and each asking the same wages. Can he respect or 
prefer either to the other ? But suppose one to be as both 
are here described, and the other slender, not healthly, rather 
small in intellect, not understanding his business, and withal, 
somewhat lazy, and asking the same wages ; he would im- 
mediately respect the first described in preference to the oth- 
er. Hence, it is evident that respecting any person more 
than another, is because we esteem him better ; we prefer 
him on account of some difference and superiority. The 
Scriptures evidently give this idea of respect, Gen. iv. 3, 4, 5, 
"Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the 
Lord, and Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and 
the fat thereof. And the Lord 1 had respect unto Abel and to 
his offering, but unto Cain andHb his offering he had not res- 
pect." Paul shows the cause of 'this- respect : it*was because 
it was more excellent, Heb. xi. 4, "By .faith Abel offered 
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.' 7 These Scrip- 
tures exhibited must lay this question forever at rest. 

But the objector may say, if election does not make God 
a respecter of persons, yet he .must be partial. .Answer: 
Partiality and respect are words used/, in the Scriptures aa 
synonymous, James ii 1-4, "My brethren, have not the 



38 THE HARMONY BETWEEN 

faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with res^ 
pect of persons. For if there come into your assembly a 
man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in 
also a poor man in vile raiment, and ye have respect to him 
that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou 
here in a good place ; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, 
or sit here under my footstool : are ye not then partial in 
yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts ?" 

Hence, the Scriptures evidently prove these objections 
against election entirely groundless, but powerful against the 
opposite system. I have several times heard this objection 
made against election, and as often inquired of the objector : 
Suppose the sinner reads the Bible, and prays, greatly desi- 
ring salvation, and does all he can with a wicked heart, does 
he not do his present duty, and will not God certainly have 
mercy on him and take away the stony heart out of his flesh, 
and give him an heart of flesh ? Ezek. xxxvi, 26, or in other 
words, forgive his sin and make him a new creature in Christ? 
2 Cor. v. 17, " Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new 
creature." They uniformly answer yes. I ask them again, if 
they do not perform this duty, will they ever be born of God? 
They as uniformly answer no. It is evident, on this scheme, 
that they are not created in Christ Jesus unto good works, 
Eph. ii. 10, " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ 
Jesus unto good works ;" for they had done them before they 
were in Christ. Is it not evident, on these principles, that 
God chooses and regenerates such because they are better (for 
they do better) than those who are left ? and also, that on 
this theory, and the definition of the phrase, respect of per- 
sons, as has been unmistakably shown both from reason and 
Scripture, God is a respecter of persons ? for he chooses and 
regenerates those who do good, and those who do not he leaves. 
If any person should perform any work for doing of which sal- 
vation was promised, he would be entitled to it as a reward; 
and the reward could not be reckoned of grace, but of debt, 
Rom. iv. 4, "Now unto him that worketh is the reward, not 
reckoned of grace, but of debt." If all men are dead in sins, 
and continue so until quickened, Eph. ii. 1, " And ye hath he 
quickened who were dead in trespasses ;" then they were not 
chosen or quickened because they were better than others? 



DECREES AND FREE AGENCY. 6V 

but were loved when they were dead in sin, Eph. ii. 4, 5, " But 
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he 
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath qnickened us 
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved);" Jer. xxxi. 3, 
" Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore 
with loving kindness have I drawn thee." 

On examining thef Scriptures, it appears plain that the ob- 
jection of God's being a respecter of persons has no bearing 
against unconditional election (for those who were chosen were 
not a particle better than those who were left), but comes 
over with its full weight or force, on or against the Arminian 
doctrine. Therefore, that unscriptural doctrine of God's be- 
ing a respector of persons, which the Arminian disbelieves 
and hates, as well the Calvinist, is unavoidably attached to the 
Armenian scheme, and the scheme ought to be abandoned 
because against the Scriptures, or altogether unscriptural, 



INTRODUCTION TO THE TREATISE ON THE 
SABBATH. 



The Author was taught in his youth, that at the time of 
the creation, the seventh day was prescribed by God to Adam 
and all his posterity, as a Sabbath, to be kept holy, and as a 
day to assemble for public worship, in commemoration of 
God's resting from creation ; but that as the work of redemp- 
tion far surpassed that of creation, and was accomplished by 
the resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week, the Sab- 
bath was therefore changed to the first day in commemoration 
of that more glorious work; and although, under this view, 
the punishment of death for picking up a few sticks on the 
Sabbath, Num. xv. 32-36, seemed to him so disproportioned 
to the offence as to indicate the probability of some other 
reason for instituting the Sabbath, and the thought of it al- 
ways gave him an unpleasant sensation, and led his mind to* 
seek for some reason for requiring such strict observance of 
the Sabbath more commensurate with the penalty for Sab- 
bath-breaking ; yet it was more than thirty years after he 
united with the church before he thoroughly examined the 
subject, and under standingly formed an opinion of it for him- 
self. For some years he strictly kept the first day of the 
week as holy time y never doubting the correctness of his ear- 
ly impressions, that the New Testament changed the Sabbath 
7 



60 INTRODUCTION. 

and the commands and penalties from the seventh day of the 
week to the first ; but when in after years he came to look 
and inquire for the texts authorizing the change, he was "much 
surprised to learn that there was no direct proof of the 
change — that it depends entirely upon inferences, and those 
not very direct or plain; and a very tenacious observer of 
the first day Sabbath, who was well versed in the Scriptures, 
cited to him as the plainest proof of the change, Heb. vii. 
22: " The Priesthood being changed, there is made of neces- 
sity a change also of the law." He was not then prepared 
to investigate the subject of the Sabbath, but as he did not 
find in the New Testament any precept or example for the 
observance of any day as holy time, he did not regard the first 
day of the week with the same peculiar sanctity as formerly. 

Some years after he removed to the vicinity of a seventh 
day church, and a member of the church with which he was 
connected having become convinced that the first day of the 
week was not the Sabbath, and having for that reason applied 
for a letter to join the the seventh day church, the attention of 
the writer was directed to that subject, and he resolved to 
search the Scriptures thoroughly, and ascertain if possible 
whether the observance of the seventh day Sabbath is 
obligatory on the Grospel church, and if so, to practice accor- 
dingly. With a determination to know all that the Scriptures 
say in reference to the Sabbath, his mind was for more than 
a year intently devoted to the careful examination and study 
of that point ; and the following pages are the result. 

The author has long felt that a correct understanding of the 
subject of the Sabbath was very desirable ; and though much 
has been written in relation to it, he has never seen published 



INTRODUCTION, 51 

what seems to him the true theory to be drawn from the 
Scriptures themselves. If it is now as much the duty of 
every man to keep holy the Sabbath as it was the duty of 
the Jews after the commandments were given, and if a failure 
to do so is now as aggravated an offence against God as it 
was under the law, and deserves as severe a punishment, its 
importance cannot be over-estimated; and the selection of 
the proper day to observe is a matter of too much consequence 
to allow any inference, or even Apostolic tradition, to out- 
weigh the plain and specific command of Jehovah. 

If no such obligation now rests upon mankind, it is still 
important that those who seek to know their Master's will 
should be able to understand what it is, and where it is re- 
vealed. Some conscentious christians consider a belief that 
the first day of the week is holy time, as necessary to salva- 
tion; and some churches have held it a duty " to let him be 
unto them as an heathen man," who, however exemplary his 
chistian character otherwise, lacked this faith in their substi- 
tuted Sabbath ; and most christians attach considerable Sab- 
batical sanctity to the day. To all such a knowledge of this 
truth would afford relief from a burden. 

A residence for more than thirty years among Sabbatarians, 
and noticing the inextricable difficulties under which all first 
day worshippers struggle in an argument with Sabbatarians, 
after admitting (as nearly all do) that God instituted the 
Sabbath in Eden for all mankind, and the facility with which 
we escape the yoke which the disciples could not bear (Acts 
xv. 10), by considering the Sabbath what God declared it to 
be, " the Sign of the Covenant," which must vanish with the 
substance ; as well as the importance of the subject, and the 



52 INTRODUCTION. 

favor with which his arguments have been received by per- 
sons unable to answer the Sabbatarians, have induced the 
writer to give his views to the public. 

He has endeavored to show in a plain, unadorned manner, 
but as he thinks, in a scriptural light, when and why 
the Sabbath was instituted, how long it was to continue^ 
and when it ended, and the first day of the week was selected, 
not as a Sabbath to abide in their place , but as a time to as- 
semble for the public worship of God. Whether he truly 
understands and expresses the teachings of the Bible on this 
subject, every reader will judge for himself. That God may 
govern it for his own glory, and the good of them that love 
him, is the sincere prayer of the 

AUTHOR. 

Adams, New York, a. d. 1859. 



THE SABBATH. 



Much difference has existed in the christian world concerning 
the Sabbath. Most Protestant Christians believe that the 
Sabbath in the fourth commandment on the tables of stone, 
was given to Adam in Eden, and is obligatory on all nations 
to the end of time, as a day appointed by God for men to as- 
semble together for public worship. Some believe the keep- 
ing of the seventh day, as enforced in the fourth command, 
to be so binding on all men that its non-observance will be 
attended with the most solemn and fearful consequences 
hereafter. But the great majority of Christians believe that 
at the resurrection of Jesus the Sabbath then existing was 
changed from the seventh day of the week to the first, and 
that keeping the Lord's Day is now enjoined by the fourth 
command to the same extent as the seventh day was. There 
are a few professed followers of Christ who believe that when 
the Sabbath was given to Israel in the wilderness of Sin, be- 
tween Elim and Sinai, that was the first time it was enjoined 
on any individual or society of men. They learn that when 
God took Israel by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, Heb. 
viii. 9, " In the day when I took them by the hand to lead 
them out of the land of Egypt," he made a covenant with 
them, specified in Deut. v. 1-22, a The Lord our God made 
a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this cov- 
enant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of 
us here alive this day." Then follow the specifications 
Which were written on tables of stone. This was the first 
covenant God made with Israel (when Christ came he made 
another with the gospel church, Heb. viii. 8), and he an- 



54 XKEAT1SE ON 

nexed to it a law of ordinances, Heb. ix. 1, " Then verily 
the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service." 
Then the ordinances are specified. The first covenant with 
its ordinances was but a shadow of things, and therefore could 
not perfect its votaries, Heb. x. 1, " For the law having a 
shadow of good things to come could never make the 
comers thereunto perfect." It could only sanctify to the puri- 
fying of the flesh, a figure of the blood of Christ purifying 
the conscience, Heb. ix. 13, " For if the blood of bulls and 
of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, 
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh," ver. 14, "how 
much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal 
spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your con- 
science from dead works to serve the living God ?" ver. 23, 
a It was therefore nessessary that the patterns (or likeness) of 
things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the 
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these." 

In that covenant he enjoined on Israel the Sabbath for a 
day of holy rest to the Lord, for a sign that they might know 
that it was he that did sanctify them, Exod. xxxi. 13, " Veri- 
ly my Sabbaths ye shall keep ; for it is a sign between me and 
you throughout your generations, that ye may know that 
I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." It was but a shad- 
ow of things to come, Col. ii. 16, " Let no man therefore 
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, 
or of the new moon, or the Sabbath days," ver. 17, " which 
are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is of Christ," 
a figure of the rest in Jesus which the believer finds in 
coming to him, Matt. xi. 28, " Come unto me all ye that labor 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and enters in- 
to on believing, Heb. iv. 3, " For we which have believed do 
enter into rest." 

When Jesus came he made a new covenant, which made 
the first (in which the Sabbath was enjoined) old, and it van- 
ished away, Heb. viii. 13, " In that he saith a new covenant, 
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and 
waxeth old, is ready to vanish away ;" and the first covenant 
is binding on no people since that period, for he took it away,. 
Heb. x. 9, " He taketh away the first that he may establish 
the second." 



xai» CATiBATIl. 55 

Those who believe that God gave Adam ttic Sabbath in 
the garden of Eden, as above specified, and through him t all 
his posterity, and attempt to support it, cite several pas- 
sages of the Old Testament as circumstantial evidence, which 
they think prove the fact. I will examine them. The first 
is Gen. ii. 2, 3, " And on the seventh day God ended his 
work which he had made. And he rested on the seventh day 
from all the work which he had made. And God blessed the 
seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested 
from all his work which God created and made." This sentence 
shows plainly that God rested on the seventh day, and blessed 
and sanctified it, and the reason for blessing and sanctifying 
it was because he rested on it ; but there is no command, not 
even a hint, to Adam to rest or worship God on that day. 
Had God designed Adam to worship on that day, he would 
certainly have commanded it, and prescribed the manner, as 
that has been his uniform practice as recorded in both the 
Old and New Testaments where worship was enjoined; and 
Adam could know nothing of worship unless it was revealed 
to him. 

The second argument is founded on Gen. iv. 3, 4 : "And 
in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the 
fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel 
he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat 
thereof." And to support the Sabbath, it is supposed that 
they offered on the seventh day, and as proof state that the 
words "in process of time" should have been rendered " end 
of days ;" and then, in the absence of all evidence, it is as- 
sumed that it was at the end of six days. Probably it was 
at the end of three hundred and sixty-five days ; for God di- 
rected Israel to offer lambs of the first year, Exod. xii. 5, 
" Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first 
year;" Mic. vi. 6, " Shall I come before him with burnt of- 
ferings, with calyes of a year old ?" I see no circumstance 
in this that has any bearing on the Sabbath. 

The third argument is drawn from Gen viii. 6-12, which 
states that Noah opened a window of the Ark, and sent a ra- 
ven and a dore to see if the waters were abated from off the 
ground ; and the dove returned to him, and he took her into 
the Ark. " And he stayed yet other seven days, and again 



56 TREATISE <¥* 

he sent forth t.Wtlove out of the Ark. And the dove came 
in to h^ * n the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf 
plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated 
from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days,, 
and sent forth the dove, which returned not again unto him 
any more." If Noah's opening the Ark window and putting 
forth a dove and taking her in again three seventh days in suc- 
cession proves anything respecting the Sabbath, it proves too 
much ; for it proves that holy Noah broke the Sabbath three 
Sabbath days in succession, which acts the Sabbath advocates 
would hardly admit, seeing that he had so lately found grace 
in the eyes of the Lord, Gen. vi. 8, The fourth command 
on the tables of stone respects the seventh-day Sabbath, and 
says, "in it thou shalt not do any work, Exod. xx. 16." 

The fourth argument rests on Gen. xxix. 27, 28, " Fulfill 
her week, and we will give thee this also ; for the service 
which thou shalt serve me with yet seven other years. And 
Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week, and he gave him Kachel, 
his daughter, to wife also." The week here mentioned 
is manifestly seven years, and has no relation to a Sabbath. 

The fifth argument is taken from Exod. xvi. 23 : -" This is- 
that which the Lord hath said : to-morrow is the rest of the 
holy Sabbath unto the Lord ;" and they insist that Moses re- 
ferred to what God had said to Adam in Eden, but I think it 
only had reference to what God said to Moses the day pre- 
vious to the first fall of the manna (which was the day 
Israel left Elim), respecting the quantity they should have 
on the sixth day, noted ver. 5. God informed Moses, vcr. 4 r 
that he would rain bread from heaven for Israel : " Then 
said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from 
heaven for you ; and the people shall go out and gather a cer- 
tain rate every day;" ver. 5, " And it shall come to pass that 
on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in, 
and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." In ver. 
16 Moses informs them what that certain daily rate should 
be : an omer for every person in their tents ; ver. 17, " And 
the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, and 
some less." And as there was a miracle in raining, so also in 
the quantity when measured, as appears ver. 18, " And when 
they did mete" (or measure) "it with an omer, he that gath.-- 



THE SABBATH. 57 

ered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had 
no lack;" and in ver. 22 another miracle was manifest, " And it 
came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much 
bread, two omers " for every man. They gathered in the 
same way on that day as on other days, or they violated the 
command given in ver. 4, that they should "gather a cer- 
tain rate every day." But it is plain, from ver. 5, that the 
double quantity did not appear until they prepared (or meas- 
ured) it after they brought it in, and this explains why "all 
the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses" of the 
miracle; ver. 23, "And he said unto them, This is that 
which the Lord had said" (for the Lord had said that very- 
thing to him six days before, and doubtless then gave him 
the reason for it, that the next day would be the Sabbath) r 
" to-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord ;" 
ver. 25, "To-day ye shall not find it in the field;" ver. 26,, 
" In it there shall be none." This is the first time the word 
Sabbath occurs in the Bible, and the first direction to any 
person or people to observe it that is recorded in the Scrip- 
tures. I see no evidence here of a Sabbath in Eden. 

The sixth argument is drawn from Exod. xx. 8, "Remem- 
ber the Sabbath day to keep it holy." The command to re- 
member implies something declared before, and is thought by 
some to be evidence that the Sabbath was given in Eden; 
but the passages cited show that it referred to the declara- 
tions, Exod. xvi. 23, "To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sab- 
bath unto the Lord;" and ver. 29, " See, for that the Lord 
hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the 
sixth day the bread of two clays : abide ye every man in his 
place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." 
These declarations were made some three weeks before the com^ 
mand of the Sabbath on Sinai. I think this inference from 
the word "remember" has no bearing on a Sabbath in Eden. 

The seventh argument rests on Mark ii. 27, first clause, 
" And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man." 
These words are expounded by Sabbatarians thus : For man 
as man, i. e. for all men, and consequently for the first man. 
As this text is supposed to be almost a conclusive argument, 
I will examine it. The 28th ver. is plainly an inference 
drawn from the premises laid down in the preceding -verse, 
8 



58 TREATISE ON 

Therefore (or for that reason) the Son of man is Lord also of 
the Sabbath. I can see no connection between the premises 
supposed by the Sabbatarian expositors, and the inference the 
Savior drew from it. I think such reasoning would destroy 
the force of the Savior's argument. Nor can I see how it 
could excuse the act complained of, which was that the disci- 
ples violated the Sabbath. The facts as recorded, Matt. xii. 
1-8, the same Mark ii. 23-28, are that he and his dis- 
ciples went through the corn-field on the Sabbath day, and 
that the disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat; that 
the Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath, and 
that Jesus justified them. The first argument he presented 
to excuse them is extracted from 1 Sam. xxi. 1-6, and sta- 
ted, Matt. xii. 3, 4, " He said unto them, Have ye not read 
what David did when he was an hungered, and they that were 
with him ; how he entered into the House of God, and did eat 
the shew oread, which was not lawful for him to eat; neither 
for them that were with him, but only for the priests ?" The 
same argument is recorded by Mark, ii. 25, 26, which clearly 
evinces that both spake of the same time The Savior's sec- 
ond argument at the time, is founded on Lev. xxiv. 8, " Eve- 
ry Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord;" and 
Numb, xxviii. 9, " And on the Sabbath day two lambs of the 
first year, without spot;" ver. 10, " This is the burnt offering 
of every Sabbath." This is noted, Matt. xii. 5, 6, " Or have 
you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the 
priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 
But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the 
temple." Thus it appears that the acts of setting the shew 
bread, and offering the sacrifices in the temple on the Sabbath, 
were profaning it;" yet, because God had so directed, they 
were blameless; and that as Christ was greater than the tem- 
ple, he might direct his disciples on the Sabbath as he pleased. 
Jesus' third argument rests on a statement made in Hosea 
vi. 6, " For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowl- 
edge of God more than burnt offerings." This is noted in 
Matt. xii. 7, " But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will 
have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned 
the guiltless;" thereby informing the Pharisees that if they 
had understood that sentence, they would have seen, that in- 



THE SABBATH. 59 

stead of God desiring them to sacrifice to him any more beasts, 
He, the Messiah, had come to be a sacrifice for them ; 1 Cor. 
5, 7, " For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," so 
that he might have mercy on them, Tit. 3-5. Not by works 
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his 
mercy he saved us. And as Jesus came, not to destroy the 
law, but to fulfill; Matt 5-17, " I am not come to destroy, 
(the law) but to fulfill," and is the end (or completion,) of 
the law for righteousness; Rom. 10-4, " For Christ is the end 
of the law for righteousness;" and as the law came by Moses, 
" but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ," John i. 17 ; 
so he had come to redeem them from the curse of the law, 
Gal. iii. 13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
law, being made a curse for us, so that we should not be under 
the law;" Rom. vi. 14, " For ye are not under the law but 
under grace." That he had come to establish a kingdom 
which should never be destroyed, Dan. ii. 44, " In the days 
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which 
shall never be destroyed;" and as Jesus established a new 
covenant, (or kingdom,) the first covenant on tables of stone 
made on Sinai with the house (or kingdom) of Israel, of 
which the Sabbath was apart, grew old, and was removed to 
give place to the new, Heb. viii. 13, " In that he saith a new 
covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which de- 
cayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." And Jesus 
took it out of the way as is evident from Heb. x. 9, " Then 
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will God. He taketh away 
the first that he may establish the second," so that his disci- 
ples were not under the Sabbath law, for he is Lord of the 
Sabbath. As God only could sanctify them, Jesus was the 
very substance of the Sabbath or rest, (Matt. xi. 28, Come 
unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will 
give you rest,) of which the seventh day was a sign, Exod. 
xxxi. 13, " Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign 
between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord 
that doth sanctify you ;" (or by the spirit make you holy that 
you may rest on me). The disciples as certainly transgressed 
that part of the fourth commandment, " In it thou shalt not 
do any work," as the man that gathered sticks on the Sabbath 
day, Numb. xv. 32-36 ; verse 32, " And while the children 



60 TREATISE ON 

of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gath- 
ered sticks upon the Sabbath day ;" verse 35, " And the Lord 
said the man shall surely be put to death ; all the congregation 
.shall stone him with stones without the camp ;" and if the 
Sabbath law had not been abolished, the disciples could not 
have been guiltless. 

The secondhand conclusive) argument, as recorded, Mark 
ii. 27, is, " And he said unto them the Sabbath was made for 
man and not man for the Sabbath ;■ ■ verse 28, " Therefore, (or 
for that reason), the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath." 
I think the sentiment exhibited in this statement, is, if the 
Sabbath had been made first, (or before man), and man after- 
wards, and for the Sabbath, it would have been plain, that all 
men were obliged to keep it to the end of the world, and that 
it could not be removed ; but as man was made first and the 
Sabbath instituted for man, thereafter, but not until some two 
thousand and five hundred years after man was*created (and 
then, not for all men, but only for the Jews), as a shadow 
of things to come (the substance of which is rest in Jesus, 
Matt. xi. 28 as before cited; Col. ii. 16, " Let no man there- 
fore judge you, ... or of the Sabbath days," verse 17, 
" whkm are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is of 
Christ, ;" therefore, Jesus is Lord also of the Sabbath, and 
may do with that, and order his disciples, as he please. 

Having examined the Scriptures offered as evidence that 
the Sabbath was given to Adam, and it appearing so plain that 
they do not sustain that view, I might safely rest that part 
of the cause, without presenting any arguments in the nega- 
tive. But as I think there are much stronger arguments 
against it, than can be offered for it, I will mention some. 
The first I shall offer, is the entire want of any evidence in 
the Scriptures that any person ever kept a Sabbath, until it 
was given by God to Israel in the wilderness. There is no 
account that Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos or even Enoch, who 
walked with God, or Methuselah who lived so long, or any 
other person before the flood, ever observed the Sabbath; or 
$&b Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or any of the Patriarchs 
who lived after the flood, ever spake or heard of it. The 
IsiJjSBoe of the Scriptures on the subject, and especially the 
^sence of any censure for disregarding the Sabbath during 



THE SABB-Vin. 61 

the space of 2500 years after the creation of the world, 
Gen. vi. 5, " And God saw that the wickedness of man was 
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts 
of his heart was only evil continually ;" Gen. xviii. 20, " And 
the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is 
great, and because their sin is very grievous ;" wherein not 
even ten righteous persons could be found, verse 32, " And 
he said I will not destroy it for ten's sake ;" and it was de- 
stroyed ; Chapter xix. 13, " For we will destroy this place, 
because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the 
Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it." But imme- 
diately after God gave Israel the Sabbath he brought to 
Moses a charge against some of them for transgressing it, 
Exod. xvi. 22, " And it came to pass, that on the sixth day 
they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man;" 
and they were told, verse 26, " Six days ye shall gather it, 
but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall 
be none ;" verse 27, " And it came to pass, that there went 
out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and 
they found none ;" verse 2$, " And the Lord said unto Moses, 
how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws;" 
verse 29, " See for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, 
therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two 
days ; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of 
his place on the seventh day." 

As a strong circumstance to show that there was no Sab- 
bath until after the fall of the manna, I will next mention 
the journeying of Israel. If there was a Sabbath extant, 
previous to the seventh day after the first falling of the man- 
na about the camp, it must have been the day that Israel 
journeyed from Elim into the wilderness of Sin, Exod. xvi. 
1, and thereby broke the Sabbath by Divine appointment; 
Numbers ix. 23, "At the commandment of the Lord 
they rested in their tents, and at the commandment of the 
Lord they journeyed." I think it plain, from Exod. xvi. 1-13, 
that the day they journeyed was that in which the quails cov- 
ered the camp in the evening, and the next morning the man- 
na lay about the camp. That was the seventh day before 
the one Israel was commanded to rest on as the Sabbath. It 
was a wearisome day of journeying instead of a Sabbath-— 



62 TREATISE ON 

a strong circumstance against there being a Sabbath extant 
at that time, and a tacit acknowledgment of Moses that 
there was none. 

The last reason I shall mention is in Deut. v. 15. In the 
three previous verses Moses had rehearsed to Israel the fourth 
commandment, which was to keep the Sabbath holy, and in 
this verse says: "And remember that thou wast a servant in 
the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee 
out thence through a mighty hand, and by an stretched-out 
arm ; therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep 
the Sabbath day." If they had had a Sabbath before they 
came out of Egypt, I can see no force in the command, or in 
the reason here given for it. But if there was none until it 
was given them after they came out of Egypt, there is pro- 
priety in the sentence. The force of the last argument is 
felt by those who hold that the Sabbath had an earlier origin, 
and therefore an attempt is made to destroy it by stating 
that the decalogue is prefaced in the same manner, Exod. xx. 
2, " I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of 
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." All that 
this can prove is, that the law was given to none but Israel, 
for God brought no other nation out of Egypt, and the law 
was enjoined only on such. 

I will now state when I think the Sabbath was first given 
to any person or people. The first Sabbath mentioned in the 
Bible is in Exod. xvi. 23, and was on the 22d day of the 
second month after Israel come out of Egypt. To condense the 
account Moses gives of it in Exod. xvi. 1-29, it is plainly this : 
that Israel journeyed from Elim into the wilderness of Sin 
on the 15th day of the second month after they departed 
from Egypt, and that on that day they murmured for food ; 
and God told Moses that he would rain bread from heaven, 
and that they should have flesh in the evening, and in the 
morning bread to the full ; and it was so. For that evening 
the quails covered the camp, and the next morning the man- 
na lay round about the host, and they gathered it six suc- 
cessive mornings, and on the sixth day they were told, verse 
23, " To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the 
Lord," and in verse 29, they were told how to keep it, and to 
abide every man in his place, none to go out of his place. 



THE SABBATH. Go 

This was about 2500 years after the creation of the world ; 
and some three or four weeks after, it was first enjoined on 
Israel, it was incorporated in the covenant of ten commands 
made with Israel on Mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 1, " In the 
third month when the children of Israel were gone forth out 
of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wil- 
derness of Sinai." And if by the same day, is intended 
(and I think it is) the same day of the third month that they 
departed out of Egypt on the first month, it was the fifteenth. 
This appears from Exod. xii. 6, " And ye shall keep it up 

until the fourteenth day of the same month, and kill it in 

the evening-" verse 29, "At midnight the Lord smote all the 
first-born of the land of Egypt;" verse 30, "And Pharaoh 
rose up in the night;" verse 31, " And he called for Moses 
and Aaron by night;" verse 33, " And the Egyptians were 
urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the 
land in haste ; for they said, we be all dead men." Here it 
is evident they left Egypt early on the fifteenth day ; and on 
the third day after they came to Sinai the Lord spake ta 
them, Exod. xix. 11, " And be ready against the third day; 
for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of 
all the people upon Mount Sinai." It appears that God came 
down on the mount about twenty-six days after the first de- 
claration of the Sabbath, and then spake to Israel the ten 
commandments which were afterwards written by God on 
tables of stone, Exod. xxxii. 16, " And the tables were the. 
work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven 
upon the tables." 

I will next state to whom the Sabbath was given. To none 
but Israel, for they only were with Moses in the wilderness, 
of Sin when it was given. This appears from Exod. xvi.,. 
the most of which has been transcribed above, in proving 
when it was given. No others were with Moses when they 
came to Sinai, Exod. xix. 1, as recited above ; and they only 
were addressed at Sinai, verse 3, " Thus shalt thou say to the 
house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel;" verse 7, "And 
Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid 
before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded 
him." To them only were the ten commands spoken, Exod. 
xx. 1-2, "And God spake all these words saying, I am the 



64 TREATISE ON 

Lord thy G-od which have brought thee out of the land of 
Egypt, out of the house of bondage," Then, verses 3-17 ? 
follows the ten commands, or covenant made with Israel, not 
necessary to be transcribed here. 

Full to this point is Exod. xxxi. 13, "Speak thou also unto 
the children of Israel, saying, verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep 
for it is a sign between me and you;" ver. 16, " Wherefore 
the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the 
Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual cove- 
nant." That the Gentiles had not the law (which involved 
the Sabbath) is implied in the texts cited to show that Israel 
had it, and is clearly expressed in Rom. ii. 14, " For when the 
G-entiles, which have not the law." This text alone proves 
this point, but it is corroborated by others, Deut. iv. 8, "And 
what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments 
so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day ?" 
Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20, " He sheweth his work unto Jacob, his 
statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt 
so with any nation ; and as for his judgments, they have not 
known them." If the Gentiles were under the law, why 
should God prohibit work on the Sabbath to the stranger 
within Israel's gate, in distinction from strangers not within 
their gates? as in Exod. xx. 10, "In it thoushalt not do any 

work, thou, nor the stranger that is within thy gates." 

If the law was not originally given to the Gentiles (as I think 
has been clearly demonstrated), and the Apostles called it a 
yoke, Acts xv. 10, " Now, therefore, why tempt ye God to 
put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our 
fathers nor we were able to bear ?" a yoke of bondage, GaL 
v. 1, " Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ 
has made us free, and be not entangled with a yoke of bond- 
age," and would not suffer the believing Gentiles (or the gos- 
pel church) to be bound by it, according to the Judaizing 
teachers, Acts xv. 1, " And certain men which came down 
from Judea taught the brethren, and said, except ye be cir- 
cumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved ;" 
ver. 5, " But there rose up certain of the sect of the 
Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to 
circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of 
Moses" (this was erroneous teaching, without orders subver- 



THE SABBATH. 6& 

ting their souls); ver. 24, "Forasmuch, as we have heard that 
certain which went out from us, have troubled you with words, 
subverting your souls, saying, ye must be circumcised, and 
keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment:" and 
to burden them with no more of it than is enjoined in ver. 
28, 29, " For it seemed good, to the Holy Ghost, and to us to 
lay upon you no greater burdens than these necessary things ; 
that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from bloody 
and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which if 
ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well;" why should men 
teach them that they are under it now, 1800 years after the 
Jews were taught that it was annulled ? Heb. vii. 18, " For 
there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going be- 
fore, for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof;" so that, 
even they were not under it, Rom. vi. 14, " For ye are not 
under the law, but under grace." 

Next, I will show from the Scriptures how the Jews were 
to keep the Sabbath. They were to observe it as a day of 
entire rest unto the Lord, Exod. xvi. 23, "To-morrow is the 
rest of the holy Sabbath unto th3 Lord;" ver. 29, " Abide 
ye every man in his place ; let no man go out of his place on 
the seventh day;" ver. 30, a So the people rested on the sev- 
enth day;" Exod. xx. 10, " But the seventh d&y is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord thy God; ra it thou shalt not do any work;" 
xxxv. 2, " Six days shall WJrk be done, but on the seventh 
day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to 
the Lord;" ver. 3, "Ye -shall kindle no fire throughout your 
habitations upon the Ssbbath day." 

That the Sabbath was not given to Israel as a day for the 
public worship of G^d, is evident from the texts referred to 
under this head, as well as from the consideration that no 
mode of worship was prescribed for that day throughout the 
Old and New Testaments, for when and wherever public wor- 
ship is enjoinea, the manner of worship is pointed out. The 
Israelites had times for public assembling given them, and di- 
rections for iheir conduct in them, Exod. xxiii. 14. " Three 
times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in a year;" ver. 15, 

u Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread, and 

none shall appear before me empty;" ver, 16, "And the 



66 TUEATISE ON 

feast of hardest, the first fruits of thy labors, .... and the 
feast of ingathering, which is the end of the year ;" ver. 17 ? 
" Three times in a year all thy males shall appear before the 
Lord God;" Deut.xxxi.il, " When all Israel is come to 
appear before the Lord thy God in the place he shall choose^ 
thou shalt read this law before all Israel, in their hearing ;" 
ver. 12, " Gather the people together, men, and women, and 
children, and thy stranger that is is within thy gates, that 
they may hear, and that they may learn and fear the Lord 
your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;" Lev. 
xxiii. 3, is supposed by some to prove that the Sabbath was 
given to Israel for a day of publie worship : " Six days shall 
work be done, but in the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest 7 
an holy convocation ; ye shall do no work therein ; it is the 
Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." The words, " it 
is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings," show 
plainly that it was not a public assemblage. How all Israel 
could meet together in one place, and yet remain in their 
dwellings, I cannot see. I think the plain sense of the text 
is, that however the several members of a family might be 
scattered in the six working days by their labors, yet on the 
seventh day they should convoke in their dwellings, for an 
holy rest unto the Lord. Tiis is in perfect accordance with 
Exod. xvi. 29, " Abide ye ev&ry man in his place," as before 
cited. 

Some have thought that public worship on the Sabbath by 
the Jews, is clear from the fact that the Jews read the law 
in their synagogues on the Sabbath, Acts xv. 21, "For Mo- 
ses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, be- 
ing read in the synagogues every Sabbath day ;"and also that 
Jesus and his Apostles complied with tVe custom, Luke iv. 
16, "And he" (Jesus) "came to Nazareth, where he had 
been brought up, and, as his custom was, he went into the 
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read;" 
Acts xiii. 13, " Now, when Paul and his company loosed 
from Paphos," ver. 14, " they came to Antiodi, in Persidia ? 
and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat 
down ;" ver. 15, " And after the reading of the law and the 
prophets " (this practice had no direction in the law), " the 
rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, ye men and 



THE SABBATH. 6? 

brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, 
say on." This conduct of Jesus and his disciples was profa- 
ning the Sabbath (Matt. xii. 5, " The priests in the temple 
profane the Sabbath, and are blameless"), as much as the 
priests setting the shew bread on the Sabbath, Lev. xxiv. 8, 
and offering lambs on the Sabbath, Numbers xxviii. 9, and 
they could not have been blameless if they were under the 
law, unless they were so commanded, as the priests were. 
The law knows nothing about assembling on the Sabbath in 
a synagogue. The word occurs but once in the Old Testa- 
ment, Ps. lxxiv. 8, " They have said in their hearts, Let us 
destroy them together; they have burned up all the syna- 
gogues of God in the land." This appears to be a prophecy 
of what should be done at the destruction of Jerusalem, for 
Dr. Gill, who was well acquainted with the history of the 
Jews, when commenting on this text, says there were no syn- 
agogues in Judea until after the return of the Jews from 
their captivity in Babylon, and quotes Jewish authors ; and in 
his commentary on Matt, ix 35, " Teaching in their syna- 
gogues," says it is a rule with the Jews that in what place soever 
there are ten Israelites, they ought to build a house to which 
they may go for prayer. And such a place is called a syna- 
gogue; and he likewise quotes his authority therefor. And 
James tells us, Acts xv. 21, that "Moses of old time hath 
in every city them that preach him, being read in the syna- 
gogues every Sabbath day." They therefore entirely changed 
the manner of observing the Sabbath from what they were 
commanded. Can this be a wonder that they should thus 
transgress the law of God by their traditions (Matt. xv. 8, 
" But he answered and said unto them, why do ye also trans- 
gress the commandment of God by your traditions ?") sever- 
al hundred years after it was given, since they were so rebel- 
lious in Moses' day? Deut. xxxi. 27, "For I know thy rebel- 
lion, and thy stiff neck ; behold, while* I am yet alive with 
you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord; and 
how much more after my death ?" And as Jesus came to 
set up a kingdom which is not of this world, John xviii. 36, 
" Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world;" 
to establish the new covenant, and being Lord of the Sab- 
bath (as the Jews would assemble on that day), he irn- 



68 TREATISE ON 

proved the opportunity to preach the gospel to theni, and the 
Apostles did the same. 

So far as my information has extended, professed christians, 
with few exceptions, have felt an obligation from the fourth 
command of the decalogue to keep the Sabbath. Some have 
observed the seventh day, as identified in the command; a 
great majority of others the first day, as a substitute. They 
having been educated by their parents and teachers to associ- 
ate with the word Sabbath, the idea of public worship, by 
praying, preaching the gospel, singing praises to God, and 
exhorting one another, and learning plainly from the 
New Testament that the Apostolic Church actually wor- 
shiped in that way, they have never attempted to keep the 
Sabbath according to its original institution, Exod. xvi. 29, 
as a day of holy rest unto the Lord, to abide in their place, 
and not to go out of it." No one with whom I have con- 
versed had ever considered this Scriptural direction for keep- 
ing the Sabbath until the above text was mentioned to him 
to show it. But, regardless of the injunction, they kindletheir 
fires, milk their cows, make their dairy, harness their horses, 
ride miles to meeting, violating the command, Exod. xxxv. 3, 
"Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the 
Sabbath day;" as also that in Exod. xx. 10, "In it thou 
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy cattle." 

Those who are zealous of the law, Acts xxv. 20, " Thou 
seest, brother, how many thousands of the Jews there are 
which believe, and they are all zealous of the law" (these were 
doubtless seventh-day people, observing the Sabbath accor- 
ding to the traditions of the Elders, worshiping publicly on 
that day, for they had not yet learned that they had been 
called unto liberty, Gal. v. 13), and ought to be consistent and 
keep the law themselves, and not like the Jews, Eom. ii. 23, 
make their boast of the law, and through breaking the law 
dishonor God. If they are under the law, they ought to 
keep it. 

I will next speak of the penalty for defiling or violating 
the Sabbath; it is death. This is expressly taught in Exod. 
xxxi. 14, 15, " Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is 
holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put 
to death ; for whosoever doeth any tyork therein, that soul 



<J 



THE 8ABBATH. 69 

shall be cut off from among his people." Whosoever doeth 
any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 
This language is unequivocal. The manner of the death was 
stoning, Numb. xv. 32, "And while the children of Israel were 
in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon 
the Sabbath day;" ver. 35, " And the Lord said unto Mo- 
ses, The man shall surely be put to death ; all the con- 
gregation shall stone him with stones, without the camp." 

I know some think the penalty is abolished, while the law 
is in force. Is there a passage of Scripture to that effect ' 
I know of none. A law without a penalty would be but 
mere advice, and consequently no law. Those who think the 
penalty of the law abolished, but the law in force, still object 
to the assertion that a law without a penalty is mere advice, 
and therefore no law; because that, they say, would de- 
stroy the force of the gospel, for that has no penalty in this 
world, and, by the same reasoning, would be but advice. Re- 
ply : The gospel is not a law, but good tidings of grace, of 
grace for everlasting salvation. That which is called good 
tidings to the meek in Isaiah lxi. 1, is called the gospel to 
the poor in Luke iv. 18. It is called, Acts xx. 24, the gos- 
pel of the grace of God; Bph. i. 13, the gospel of salvation ; 
chap. vi. 15, the gospel of peace. The gospel is manifestly 
different from the law. The law promises the blessings for 
obedience, and threatens the curses for disobedience, all to take 
place in this life (See Deut. xviii. chap., too long to be trans- 
cribed here). But the blessings of receiving the gospel, and the 
consequences of rejecting it, are both reserved for the eternal 
world, Mark xvi. 16, " He that believeth, shall be saved ; 
but he that believeth not, shall be damned;" John v. 24, " He 
that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, 
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; 
but is passed from death unto life ;" Thess. L 8, " Taking 
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the 
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ;" ver. 9, "Who shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of 
the Lord, and from the glory of his power." The law could 
not give life, because righteousness could not come by it, Gal. 
iii. 21, " For if there had been a law given which could 
have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the 



70 TREATISE ON 

law ;" Koin. iii. 20, " Therefore, by the deeds of the law, 
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight;' Ver. 21, " But 
now the righteousness of Grod without the law is manifested, 
being witnessed by the law and the prophets;" John i. 
17, " For the law was given by Moses, but grace and 
truth came by Jesus Christ." Doing the works of the law 
perfectly could not save even a Jew, as appears from Phil. iii. 
6-9. Here Paul states what he had experienced, ver. 6, 
" Touching the righteousness which is of the law blameless ;" 
ver. 7, " But what things were gain to me, those I counted 
loss for Christ ;" ver. 8, " Yea, doubtless, and I count all 
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all 
things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ ;" 
ver. 9, "And be found in him, not having mine own right- 
eousness, which is of the law, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ." 

I will next consider the manifest design Grod had in giving 
Israel the Sabbath. I never heard this attempted until I 
read the Sabbath Vindicator, published by the Sabbath 
Tract Society, New York, fourth edition, first number, first 
page, under the head " Utility of the Sabbath." That says, 
Grod, whose tender mercies are over all his works, in giving 
the Sabbath has provided men a weekly rest from secular 
labor. This, men by observation had discovered, their na- 
tures imperiously demanded as a season of relaxation from 
ordinary duties to recruit their exhausted energies of body and 
mind. It states that the Sabbath is the only safeguard 
against the evils of constant anxiety or excessive labor, which 
avarice or cruelty might demand (thus making man's health 
and temporal interests Grod's object in giving it); that it se- 
cures neatness, and abases pride (but does not inform how it 
does either). It evidently contemplates it as a day of pub- 
lic worship; by speaking of it as a time when the truths of 
the gospel, with their sanctifiying influence, may be brought 
to bear upon the mass of society. 

For all these assertions not one solitary text is offered in 
proof, and for the best of reasons, because there is none. I 
have, from early life, thought that Grod saw it necessary that 



THE SABBATH. 71 

l s est for men should be had oftener than one day in seven, 
even a part of every twenty-four hours, and thought he pre- 
pared night as the time and sleep as the means for recruiting 
men's exhausted energies, both physical and mental; and 
since reading the above have not changed my views. I 
think that Moses, when declaring the Sabbath to Israel, did 
did not even think of these excellences of the Sabbath, for 
in all his writings he has not given a hint of them, nor of its 
being in any manner conducive to the temporal interests 
of man. 

Is it evidence of tender mercy in God, of his kind regard 
for the health and temporal interests of his creatures, and in 
accordance with his usual dealings with men, to appoint un- 
to them a weekly rest, and command them to observe it, mere- 
ly as the only safeguard against the evils of constant anxiety 
and excessive labor, as the only way of avoiding the debility 
and slow diseases, the effects of incessant care and toil, which 
destroy health and incapacitate men for labor and earning 
their support, and occasion poverty, hunger, pain, a life of 
suffering and a lingering death ; and if any of them fail to 
obey the heavenly mandate to the strictest letter, and endan- 
ger their health by the labor and anxiety of kindling a fire, 
Exod. xxxi. 14, 15, and xxxv. 3, or gathering a few sticks, 
Numb, xv, 35, 36, to cut short their course in righteousness, 
Rom. ix. 28, by causing them to be immediately stoned to 
death by all the congregation ? Has God generally,— did he 
ever in his strictest dealings with the Jews cut off ail, or any, 
as soon as they infringed in the least degree the rules of health 
or frugality? Is there an instance of his indicting death 
publicly for disregarding the rules of health and temporal 
economy, without violating some command made for a higher 
purpose than the offender's temporal prosperity ? If the Sab- 
bath had been given solely or principally for man's health and 
pecuniary benefit, or that of the Jews only, is it not probable 
that such reason would have been mentioned in the Scrip- 
tures ? Such a temporal reason is given in the fifth com- 
mandment, Exod. xx. 12, "Honor thy fathor and mother, that 
thy days may be long in the land." In the 11 verse a reason 
for giving and hallowing the Sabbath is inserted : The Lord 
" rested the seventh day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the 



72 TREATISE ON 

Sabbath day and hallowed it," which indicates that its ob- 
servance was enjoined as a duty to God, and not pre- 
scribed as a medicine for man, or to help him make money ; 
and stoning a man to death could hardly have been intended 
merely to promote his health or prosperity. Had God inten- 
ded to punish with death every inattention to the means of 
health or wealth, as important as a few moments exertion on the 
Sabbath day, he would certainly have affixed a penalty to 
the 9th verse, " Six days shall thou labor and do all thy 
work," for idleness and extravagance are more detrimental 
to health and prosperity. 

The reason for giving the Sabbath and requiring its obser- 
vance with so much strictness, is a subject that has perplexed 
my mind for nearly fifty years. One of my earliest recollec- 
tions is of being restrained with other children on Sunday from 
all exercise, amusement, or enjoyment of any kind, because 
it was the holy Sabbath ; and this made the day seem very 
long and tedious. When able to read, I found that the 
fourth commandment required the seventh day to be kept, 
and I inquired why we kept the first day, and not the sev- 
enth ; and was told by my parents that the seventh day was 
the Sabbath until the resurrection of Christ, which was on 
the first day, and that on that account and at that time 
the Sabbath was changed unto the first day of the week 
or tho Lord's day. I supposed they knew this from the 
Scriptures, and that it must be so, and also supposed the 
Sabbath binding on all men. When I came to read and re- 
flect upon the penalty for Sabbath-breaking, and saw for how 
trivial a breach of it the whole congregation was required by 
the Lord to join in stoning the offender to death ; so far as I 
could understand the reason or propriety of instituting the 
Sabbath, there was ^n unaccountable disparity between the 
offence and its punishment, and I could not avoid a feeling 
of dissatisfaction whensyer the subject occurred to my mind. 
It seemed different from God's usual manner of dealing with 
people in other respects, an<J I wished to find out the cause of 
this difference. I often inquired the reason, but no one 
could give me an answer or refer to any Scripture that would 
lessen the difficulty. Though I believed that the punishment 
was directed by a just, wise, and merciful Being, and that 



THE SABBATH 73 

therefore there must be wisdom as well as justice m it, I was 
unable to see how it could be so. 

In my twentieth year, through the grace of God, I obtained 
a hope in the Savior, and united with the church. For seve- 
ral years I conscientiously observed Sunday as the Sabbath , 
and I remember feeling remorse of conscience a number of 
times ; for once, in returning from meeting on Sunday, pick- 
ing and eating a few blackberries that grew by the road-side, 
The comparison between this and gathering sticks w r as natu- 
ral, and the result was not much in my favor. 

After a few years I learned that the change of Sabbath 
was not directly shown by the New Testament, only by in- 
ference, and I read it by course in order to find all it con 
tained on the subject; and I could not find that Jesus or 
any of the Apostles ever directed its observance, or reproved 
any one for breaking it, though he and his disciples were 
censured by the Scribes and Pharisees for doing what had 
been considered Sabbath-breaking. After this I did not con- 
sider Sunday as I had previously, "holy time;" but as the 
Lord's day was observed as a day of public worship by the 
gospel church, and by churches and people generally, I con- 
tinued to observe it as such. 

When I was near fifty years of age, the attention of the 
church with which I was connected was called to the subject 
of observing the seventh day as the Sabbath, and I looked 
into it more than I had previously done ; but the morel read 
and reflected the more difficulty I found, and the more anx- 
ious I became to remove such difficulty. I felt sure that the 
explanation could be learned from the Bible, and I thought 
that by careful and proper study I could find out the 
true reason for establishing the Sabbath and requiring ifo 
observance under such severe penalties, and that if I could 
but see cleary the cause for the Sabbath and its sanctity 
the whole subject would be plain. 

I had never doubted that the Sabbath was enjoined on our 
first parents in the garden, to be observed by all mankind 
as a day of rest and public worship, as a constant memorial 
of God's rest after the six days work of creation ; this almost 
universal tradition had been implanted m my mind earlier 
10 



71 TREATISE ON ■ 

than I could remember, and I had never heard its correctness 
questioned by any one who did not deny the authenticity of 
the Bible ; and the mystery I was seeking to solve was, why 
at the creation so much importance was attached to the com- 
memoration of that rest, and why the punishment of death 
should be so publicly and suddenly inflicted for the most triv- 
ial and apparently harmless act done on that day, when in all 
other cases the motive or intention was most regarded, 1 Sam, 
xvi. 7, " But the Lord lookoth on the heart;' 7 and in all 
ages, individuals, families, and nations, guilty of the most 
lienious crimes against God and man, grew old in iniquity ? 
Why was the failure to weekly commemorate that resting 
a more enormous offence, requiring in this world a greater 
and more speedy punishment than the murder of Abel, the 
killing of the prophets, or crucifying the Son of God? 

After considerable examination and reflection on this point, 
I resolved to divest myself of all prepossessions, to lay aside 
nil former theories, and devote to a systematic study of the sub 
jeet of the Sabbath all the time my laboring on a farm would 
permi t (for in the sweat of my face I ate my bread). I carefully 
read in course the five books of Moses and the other parts of 
the Bible referring to the Sabbath, and read and re-read what- 
ever appeared to have any relation to it, as I had never done 
before. While laboring I would reflect upon and compare dif 
fcrent passages, and endeavor if possible to discover the 
meaning and teachings of the Scriptures and the connection and 
bearing of different subjects, texts, and expressions, every verse 
or word which seemed to have any relation to or connection 
with the Sabbath, I examined and studied carefully by itself 
and with other Scriptures, and with reference to the circum- 
stances, manners, customs, traditions, and predjudices of the 
Jews and of the times, so far as my limited knowledge of 
Jewish antiquities would enable me so to do ; and whatever 
view or idea was suggested by any text, expression, or word, 
or by bringing them together, I would compare with other 
passages and with other views or theories, and trace the ef- 
fect, until by its agreeing or disagreeing with what seemed 
true, I could judge of its truth or falsity ; and when I per- 
ceived any fact or inference new to me which stood the test, 
I would te-cxaminc and compare with it the views which I 



THE SABBATH, 75 

supposed settled, as well as any others which I had not fi- 
nally rejected, taking care that no doctrine or principle, how- 
ever long entertained, should be admitted into the foundation 
of the system, that was not apparently well sustained and 
free from inconsistency as far I could pursue it. 

By this course of reading and study I discovered or ob- 
tained many ideas entirely new to me, and some which seemed 
important and very strongly supported when I came to see 
and understand them and look at the evidences of their truth. 
One of the leading and most important discoveries on this 
subject, one which tended very much to remove the dissatis- 
faction or difficulty from my mind, was that the ten com- 
mandments spoken by Grod to the children of Israel, Exod. 
xx., and afterwards written by Grod on tables of stone, Exod, 
xxxi. 18, were the covenant Grod made with Israel, which 
in the New Testament is called the first covenant, or the old 
covenant, Heb. viii. 13. Another was that the Sabbath was 
not given to Israel as a time to assemble for public worship, 
but to abide every man in his place, Exod. xvi. 29. This led 
me to inquire why the Sabbath was given to the Jews for 
such a purpose. I pondered much on Exod. xxxi. 13, "Veri- 
ly my Sabbaths ye shall keep ; for it is a sign between me 
and you throughout your generations; that ye may know 
that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.-' There seemed 
to be some peculiar significance to this which I could not 
yet comprehend ; and this appeared to be the place where 
the clew to the mystery must be sought. I thought that if 
I could perceive what Grod intended to communicate in that 
sentence, it would open the way so that I could follow with 
comparative ease. 

My perceptive powers were never quick, my imagination 
far from vivid and never much exercised, and consequently 
my progress was slow as well as cautious, and for a consider- 
able time I gave my mind as ardently as I was able to search 
out the meaning of this (to me) obscure text before I ob- 
tained any light on it. The difficulty had already become 
much lessened by being narrowed down to simply the reason 
for giving the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant to the Jews, 
the people with whom the covenant was made, and for whom 



70 TREATISE OK 

God was acting as a temporal as well as spiritual law-giver 
and governor, and with whom he was dealing in signs, type?* 
and shadows. 

As the Sabbath was given to but one nation, it might be 
given for a temporal purpose, and the importance of the cov- 
enant of which it was a sign, be a sufficient reason for an ex- 
emplary punishment, while the Jews lived under the law and 
the covenant ; and the Sabbath being given as a sign, might 
be a type of something, and require no grea ter reason as aii 
eternal and immutable principle than other types. My in- 
quiry was, how could Israel by a command to rest to the 
Lord from all labor, with the penalty of death annexed to 
the transgression of the command, learn that it was the Lord 
that must sanctify (or purify, Acts xv. 9) them ? and if the 
Sabbath was a type, of what was it and the penalty the type i 
and how was it understood ? The nature of the question 
I commenced with had changed so much that it became nec- 
essary to reconsider the whole subject, and look in different 
directions for light, or rather to re-examine the whole by the 
aid of the additional light I had thus obtained. 

I learned that the Sabbath was a shadow of things to come ? 
but the body (or substance) is of Christ, Col. ii. 16, "Let na 

men therefore judge you or of the Sabbath days," vet 

17, " which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is ojf 
Christ." I read Hebrews, chapters iiL & iv. (often read bj 
me in course, but not understood), with such prying scrutiny 
as I never had before, to see what bearing they had on th£ 
subject. I saw that the Sabbath of rest was a shadow of 
that rest in God into which every person enters as soon as !je 
is born into the Spirit so that he comes to Jesus, Matt, xf. 
28, " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy ladeft 
and I will will give you rest." And Israel being forbidden 
to do any work on that day, was to show them that thef 
could not enter that rest by works, but if they ever entered i 
it must be by God's sanctifying them, bo that they would be 
saved by grace. This perfectly accords with Eph. ii. 8, 9, 
u For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not <jf 
yourselves; it is the gift of God, and not of works, lest ariy 
man should boast;" And the penalty of death was annexed 



THE SABBATTT, 



ihat they might know that if God did not sanctify them 
so that they received the grace or gift of God, they must suf- 
fer the second death, according to Rom, vi. 23, " For the 
wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." I then saw the propriety 
of Paul's coupling or comparing, in Heb. iv. 4, 5, God's rest 
from creation, G-en. ii. % 3, u And on the seventh day God 
ended his work which he had made ; and he rested on the sev- 
enth day from all his work which he had made. And God 
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ; because that in 
it he rested from all his work which God created and 
made," with David's declaration of the rest in God into 
which persons enter when they believe, Ps. xcv. 11, "Unto 
whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into 
my rest." Paul's comparison is recorded, Heb. iv. 3, 4, 5, 
" For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, 
As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my 
rest ; although the works were finished from the foundation 
of the world; for he spake in a certain place of the seventh 
day, on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all 
his works ; and in this place again, If they shall enter in- 
to my rest." I am aware that most people understand the 
rest here spoken of to be in heaven after death. Almost 
every obituary I read treats it so; and some think the Sab 
bath-rest a shadow of the same rest in heaven, and say the 
shadow must continue until the substance come ; meaning 
that the shadow Sabbath should be kept while in this worlds 
and at death enter the rest in the next. I think that the 
Sabbath is the shadow of rest Paul spoke of, which is only 
in Christ, where every believer or new creature is, Heb, iv, 
3, " For we which have believed do enter into rest ;" 2 Cor, 
v. 17, " Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new crea- 
ture." And when Jesus, the substance of the shadow, the 
rest itself, came, the shadow ceased (as will be shown hereaf 
tcr), for day had appeared, Cant. iv. 6, " Until the day break, 
and the shadows flee away ;" and the sun had arisen, Matt, 
iv. 2, " But unto you that fear my name, the sun of right- 
eousness shall arise with healing in his wings." Therefore 
the darkness is past and the light shines, 1 John ii, 8, Ci Pp 
cause the darkness b past, and the true light no^ fc&ketft," I 



78 TREATISE ON 

think that those who do not enter into that rest in this world, 
never will. 

Those who deem the fourth commandment Sabbath obliga- 
tory on the gospel church, and a shadow of rest after deaths 
think my views on both points incorrect. On that account 
I will give my views of the third and fourth chapters of 
Heb. (where the rest in question is particularly spoken of) 
as clearly as I am able. The Jews, who were contemporary 
with Moses, and their posterity were educated to believe that 
God revealed to them his will through Moses and the proph- 
ets, and confirmed it by miracles, and they therefore would 
be more likely to give their assent to the gospel without being 
born of the sprit, John iii. 5, " Except a mnn be born .... of 
the spirit,' 7 than the Gentiles would, who had not been thus 
trained, and thinking themselves righteous, they were more 
liable to deceive themseves by receiving the gospel in word 
only, and not in power, 1 Thess. i. 5, " For our gospel came 
not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the 
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance," than the Gentiles were ; 
and because of that danger there are more warnings against 
such deception, and more counsels that they take heed lest 
they fail of the grace of God in the epistle to the He- 
brews than in all the other epistles. This is the reason why 
Paul so often mentions to them the rest (which I think is 
manifestly in God), and so earnestly admonishes them not to 
fall short of it. The Apostle commences the third chapter 
of this epistle by showing the superiority of Christ over Mo- 
ses, ver. 3, " This man was counted worthy of more glory 
than Moses;" and to illustrate the difference shows that the 
condition of Moses with Israel was that of servitude, ver. 5, 
' 1 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a ser- 
vant ;" but the condition of Christ and the gospel church was 
that of sonship, ver. 6, " But Christ as a son over his own 
house;" and in the same verse tells them of the nature 
of the sonship, " Whose house are we " (not shall be 
after death) "if we hold fast to the confidence, and the 
rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end (of life), plainly 
showing them that if they should endure but for a season, 
they were not truly his disciples, John viii. 31, " Then 
said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye 



THE SABBATH, 79 

continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;" 
otherwise they would be like those who received seed in stony 
places, Matt. xiii. 5, " Some fell upon stony places, where 
they had not much earth ; and forthwith they sprung up, be- 
cause they had no deepness of earth;" ver. 6, "And when 
the sun was up, they were scorched ; and because they had 
no root, they withered away;" ver. 20, "But he that re- 
ceivcd the seed into stony places, the same is he that hear- 
eth the word, and anon with joy receivcth it;" ver. 21, "Yet 
hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while, for when 
tribulation or persecution ariseth, because of the word, by 
and by he is offended." 

He then, verses 7-13, warns them of the danger and evil 
of unbelief, which prevents entering into rest, by citing from 
Ps. xcv. 7-11, " Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day 
if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the 
provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness ; when 
your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty 
years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and 
said, They do always err in their heart ; and they have not. 
known my wa} r s. Sol sware in my wrath, they shall not en 
tcr into my rest." In view of this declaration of David, he 
cautions them against the insidious nature of a wicked heart, 
which might be in some of them, ver. 12, " Take heed, 
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbe 
lief in departing from the living God." And instead of leaving 
;iueh to follow their wicked hearts, they were to exhort them 
daily, lest they be more hardened, ver, 13, " But exhort one 
another daily, which is called to-day, lest any of you be har 
dened through the deccitfulness of sin," In accordance with 
2 Cor. xiii. 5, " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the 
faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own server,, 
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" 
In the above verse the Apostle has shown that persons may 
profess faith, be baptized, as Simon the sorcerer was, Acta 
riii 13, " Then Simon himself believed also, and when he 
was baptized," and yet have no part in Jesus, because the heart 

not right; ver, 21, (i Thou hast neither part nor lot in thir> 
matter; for thy he >t right in the sight of God," As 

inTit/i,l6, " They profess that they itoow God; but m 



80 TREATISE ON 

works they deny him." Such are but mothers children 
proselyted by the church, not begotten by the Father, and 
are often angry, Cant, i, 6, " My mother's children were an- 
gry with me." And to impress the subject deeply on their 
minds, he repeats the substance of what he had written in 
ver. 46, not figuratively but literally, ver. 14, *• For we are 7> 
(not shall be) " made partakers of Christ, if we hold the be- 
ginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end ;" and then 
to show them that if their hearts were hard like their fath- 
ers, they were not partakers of Christ ; ver. 15, " While it 
js said, To-day if } r e will hear his voice, harden not your 
hearts, as in the provocation ;'' thus clearly evincing that if 
they did not " delight in the law of God," Rom. vii. 22, and 
meditate in his precepts, their faith was vain, 1 Cor. xv. 2, 
" If ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye 
have believed in vain." They had not believed with the heart, 
Rom. x, 10, "For with the heart man believeth unto right- 
eousness;" that Christ, the hope of glory, was not in them, 
Col. i. 27, " Which is Christ in you the hope of glory;" and 
because they are not fruitful in good works, Col. i. 10, "Being 
fruitful in every good work;" their faith is dead, James ii. 26, 
" For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without 
works is dead also." And as a proof that it was only unbe- 
lief that prevented their fathers from entering into the Ca- 
naan rest, which was a rest from their external enemies, Deut. 
xii. 9, " For ye are not as yet come to the rest;" ver. 10, 

a But when ye go over Jordan, and when he giveth 

you rest from all your enemies round about ;" or from enter- 
ing the rest in Christ, ver. 16, "For some when they had 
heard, did provoke." He inquires, verses 17, 18, " With 
whom was he grieved forty years ? was it with them that 
had sinned ? And to whom sware he that they should not en- 
ter into his rest, but to them that believed not ?" He then 
infers from all of the above arguments, ver. 19, " So we see 
that they could not enter in because of unbelief." It being 
thus evident that their fathers did not enter into the rest in 
Canaan, nor the rest in Jesus (though it appears that they 
had the word preached to them), because of unbelief; he 
counsels them in the fourth chapter, for that reason to fear 
lest they had failed of entering the rest through -the k&me sin. 



THE SABBATH. 81 

The rest alluded to cannot be the Canaan or Sabbath rest, 
for both of them that generation had ; but it must be the rest 
in Jesus, into which every believer is introduced, chap. iv. 1, 
"Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering 
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." 
In ver. 2 he asserts that truth, however plainly taught, can- 
not profit the hearer unless every sentence is believed as spo- 
ken, so as to mix the whole subject with faith; ver. 2, "But 
the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with 
faith in them that heard it." In ver, 3, I think it clear that 
the true rest here presented, if ever entered into, is entered 
into in this world by every believer, " For we which have be- 
lieved do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my 
wrath if they shall enter into my rest" (and assures them 
that though they entered into the rest at the present time, 
the design or preparation of it on God's part was not new); 
" although the works were finished from the foundation of 
the world." This is coincident with 1 Pet. i. 20, " Who 
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world." 
And because God's purposes are eternal now with him, and 
he " calleth those things which be not, as though they were," 
Rom. iv, 17," it is said, Rev. xiii. 8, " Of the lamb slain 
from the foundation of the world." And then, to show them 
plainly that God's resting from his work was a sign that his 
children were resting in him, he immediately after mentioning 
God's rest, speaks of men's entering his rest, ver. 4, " For 
he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, 
And God did rest the seventh day from all his works;" ver. 
5, " And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest." 
Then, as a proper inference from what he had written before, 
he asserts that some must enter into the rest, and that their 
predecessors, who had the information first, entered not in 
because of unbelief, ver. 6, " Seeing therefore it remaineth 
that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first 
preached entered not in because of unbelief;" then passing 
over the explanatory note included in the parenthesis con- 
tained in verses 7-10, he exhorts them to diligence to enter 
the rest, lest they should fail by the same same sin, as in 
2 Pet. i. 10, " Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence 
to make your calling and election sure; for if ve do 
11 



8*2 THE ATI SE ON 

these things ye shall never fall;" ver. 11, "Let us labor 
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the 
same example of unbelief." Neither the Sabbath rest or the 
Canaan rest is the rest into which some must enter. 
Therefore, Paul, in the verses included in the parenthesis, 
shows the rest and the time or opportunity they had to enter 
it. First, he shows the time, and what would prevent enter- 
ing it, verse 7, " Again he limiteth a certain day " (I think 
the gospel day), saying in David, "To-day, after so long a time" 
(David wrote some five hundred years after Joshua led Is- 
rael into Canaan), " as it is said, To-day, if ye will hear his 
voice, harden not your hearts." He then shows that neither 
the Sabbath rest or the Canaan rest was that referred to, for 
both of them they had, ver. 8, "For if Jesus" (I think 
Joshua) " had given them rest, then would he not afterwards 
have spoken of another day." He then, as an inference from 
the last two verses, asserts that there must be a rest yet for 
his believing people, ver, 9, " There remaineth therefore a 
rest to the people of God." This coincides with ver. 3, " For 
we which have believed do enter into rest." Then, as a cri- 
terion by which to judge of their present state, he tells them 
that if they have entered into God's rest they have ceased 
to depend on their works for salvation, but rest alone in Je- 
sus, ver. 10, " For he that is " (I think in the present time( 
" entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own 
works, as God did from his." This rest was prophesied of, 
Isaiah xi. 10, " And in that day there shall be a root of Jes- 
se, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall 
the Gentiles seek ; and his rest shall be glorious." I under- 
stand both the root and ensign, to be Jesus ; and he plainly 
declared that he would give rest to all that came to him and 
were humble, Matt, xi. 28, " Come unto me all ye that labor, 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ;" ver. 29, 
" Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and 
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." But I 
am told by some, that Jesus intended by these expressions rest 
in heaven after death. These sentences are thus criticised ; 
The words " will give " and " shall find " are in the future 
tense; granted; so also is the direction, come unto me; but 
so soon as the command should be obeyed, the promise would 
be fulfilled, 



THE SABBATH. 83 



e 



I have always understood the rest there spoken of by J 
sus, to be conferred immediately upon coming to him and be- 
coming meek. If I should be laboring hard, with a heavy 
burden on me, and some man should say to me, come unto 
me and I will give you rest; be meek and ye shall 
find rest unto your soul ; and on my complying with the 
conditions, he should say, in ten or twenty years, or at death, 
I will give you rest , I should feel much disappointed, and 
would say to him, you have deceived me, you have not done 
as you said you would. I have supposed comfort was rest to 
the soul, John xiv. 16, " And I will pray the Father, and 
he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with 
you forever;" verse 18, " Iwill not leave you comfortless." 
I have also thought that peace is rest to the soul, ver. 27, 
u Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you;" Jer. 
vi. 16, " The good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find 
rest for your souls." 

The next question which naturally arises, is how long was 
the Sabbath to continue ? Answer : So long as the genera- 
tions of Israel continued to be G-od's chosen people, Exod. 
xxxi. 13, " Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign 
between me and you throughout your generations ;" ver. 16, 
" Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath/ 1 
(for to them only it was given), a to observe the Sabbath 
throughout their generations." Or until the ministration of 
death, written and engraven in stones, 2 Cor. iii. 7 (of which 
the Sabbath was a part), was done away, ver. 11, " For if 
that which is done away was glorious ;" ver. 6, and the able 
ministers of the New Testament began their ministration, 
which was that of the spirit which giveth life. To prove 
this, I have only to show from the old Testament that the ten 
commandments given to Israel on Sinai, and afterwards writ- 
ten on tables of stone, were the covenant which Grod made 
with Israel; and then show from the New Testament that 
the first or old covenant was taken away, and a second 
or new and better one established in its stead, by the same 
authority that gave the first. But before I enter on that 
point, it is necessary to show that the words " testament," 
" covenant," and " will," are used in the Scriptures as synon- 
ymous. I think that the same is intended by the "old test- 



84 TREATISE ON 

anient " in 2 Cor. iii. 14, " For until this day remaineth the 
same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testa- 
ment," as by the " old covenant," Heb. viii. 13, " In that he 
saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old." That 
which is called the new testament in Heb. ix. 15, " And for 
this cause he " (Jesus) " is the mediator of the new testa- 
amen,t" is by the same pen, Heb. xii. 24, called the new cov- 
enant, " And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant." 
That which is called the "blood of the covenant" in Exod. 
xxiv. 8, " And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the 
people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the 
Lord hath made with you," is in Heb. ix. 18, called the 
" blood of the testament." " Whereupon, neither the first 
testament was dedicated without blood;" ver. 19, " For 
when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people accord- 
ing to the law, he took the blood, .... and sprinkled both the 
book and all the people ;" ver. 20, " Saying this is the blood 
of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you." In 
the same chapter the word " testament " is used to signify 
the same as " will," ver. 16, " for where a testament is, there 
must also of necessity be the death of the testator ;" ver. 17, 
" For a testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise 
it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." In 
chap. x. Paul quotes in several verses from Ps. xl. 6, 7, 8, 
and uses the word "will " in the same sense as he did " testa- 
ment " in chap. ix. 16, 17, above cited. In verse 7, ci- 
ting from Ps. xl. 7, as above mentioned, which is persona- 
ting Jesus, " Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, 

God;" ver. 9, " Lo, I come to do thy will, God. He 
taketh away the first" (will), "that he may establish the sec- 
ond " (will); ver, 10, " By the which will we are sancti- 
fied through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once 
for all." 

I will also mention some of the differences between the old 
and new, under the appellation of covenants. The New Test- 
ament mentions only two covenants, Gal. iv. 24 " For these 
are the two covenants;" and distinguished the people with 
whom they were made. The first was national, made on 
Mount Sinai with the nation of Israel only, who were circum- 
cised, Gen. xvii. 14, " And the uncircumcised man child, 



THE SABBATH. 85 

whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall 
be cut off from his people : he hath broken my covenant." 
The second is made with individuals only, and of every na- 
tion who are born of God, John iii. 3, " Except a man be 
born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." The medi- 
ators are different. Moses was the mediator of the first or 
old covenant, Gal. iii. 19, " Wherefore thon serveth the 
law ! it was ordained by angels in the hand of a me- 
diator;" Deut. v. 5, " I stood between the Lord and you at 
that time to show you the word of the Lord." Jesus is the 
mediator of the second or new covenant, Heb. viii. 6, " By 
how much also is he the mediator of a better covenant." 
And as he was, like Moses, a mediator, so he was that proph- 
et like unto Moses whom God raised up, who is to be heard 
in all that he says, Acts iii. 22, "For Moses truly said unto 
the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up un- 
to you, of your brethren like unto me ; him shall ye hear in 
all things whatsoever he shall say unto you ;" ver. 23, "And 
it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that 
Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." Peter 
recited these sentences from Deut. xviii. 15-19, " This man 
is counted worthy of more glory than Moses." Heb. iii. 3, 
and ought to be heard, because he teaches the better covenant, 
of which he is mediator. The sureties of the covenants are 
also different. Under the first covenant, every individual 
subject of it was surety for himself, Lev. xviii, 5, "Ye shall 
therefore keep my statutes and my judgments ; which if a 
man do, he shall live in them : I am the Lord." And in 
reference to that very text, Paul says, Rom. x. 5, " For Mo- 
ses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the 
man which doeth those things shall live by them." But Je- 
sus is the surety of the new testament, Heb. vii.. 22, " By 
so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament ;" 
Tit. 2, 14, " Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem 
us from all iniquity." The blessings promised for obedience 
to the first covenant, were earthly or temporal, Deut. xxviii. 
1, " And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken dili" 
gently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to 
do all his commandments which I command thee this day; that 
the Lord thy God will set thee^on high above all the nations 



86 TREATISE ON 

of the earth ;}' and from verse 2 to 13, follows a specification 
of the blessings, which are all conferred in this world ; and 
from verse 15 to 68, he specifies the curses for disobedience, 
which are all inflicted in this world. These blessings and 
curses are too long to be transcribed ; the reader should turn 
to them and read. The blessings annexed to the second are 
spiritual and eternal, Eph. i. 3, " Blessed be the God and 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with 
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." These 
blessings are redemption, the forgiveness of sins, ver. 7, "In 
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins according to the riches of his grace." They are eternal life, 
John x. 28, " And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall 
never perish;" Heb. v. 9, "And being made perfect, he became 
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." 
These blessings are sure to every individual with whom the new 
covenant is made. The consequences of not heeding, neglec- 
ting, disobeying, refusing, turning from, transgressing, or des- 
pising' the commands or counsels given in the two covenents, 
are very different, as appears plain in the epistle to the He- 
brews, which was written to those who were once under the 
first covenant, Heb. ii. 1, " Therefore we ought to give the 
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at 
any time we should let them slip ;" ver. 2, " For if the word 
.spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and 
disobedience received a just recompense of reward;" ver. 3, 
" How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" 
chap. xii. 25, " See that ye refuse not him that speaketh, for 
if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, 
much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him 
that speaketh from heaven ;" chap. x. 28, " He that des- 
pised Moses' law, died without mercy under two or three 
witnesses;" ver. 29, " Of how much sorer punishment, 
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden un- 
der foot the son of G-od, and hath counted the blood of the 
covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and 
done despite unto the spirit of grace." The first covenant was 
of works, do and live, Lev. 18, 5, "Which if a man do, he shall 
live in them." The second is of grace; live and do, Eph. ii. 8 y 
" Forby grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of your- 



THE SABBATH. 87 

selves, it is the gift of God f } ver. 9, " Not of works, lest any 
man should boast;" ver. 10, "For we are his workmanship, 
created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Eternal life is the 
greatest blessing God can promise or bestow upon any of his 
creatures. If obedience to the first covenant had that promise,, 
the covenant must have been faultless; and I see not how the 
second could be any better, or established on any better 
promises." 

I will now attempt to prove from the Old Testament that 
the commandments on the tables of stone w r ere the covenant 
God made with Israel, Deut. v. 1, " And Moses called all 
Israel, and said unto them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and 
judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye mav 
learn them, and keep and do them;" ver. 2, " The Lord our 
God made a covenant with us in Horeb ; ver. 8, " The Lord 
made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, 
who are all of us alive this day;" ver. 4, "The Lord talked 
with you face to face in the Mount, out of the midst of the 
fire;" ver. 5, ("I stood between the Lord and you at that 
time to show you the word of the Lord ; for ye were afraid 
by reason of the fire, and went not up into the Mount), say- 
ing," ver. 6, " I am the Lord thy God which brought thee 
out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." And 
from ver. 6 inclusive to 21, follow the ten commandments, 
as declared on Mount Sinai., and afterwards written on the 
tables of stone, as recorded, Exod. xx. 3-17 (too long to 
be transcribed), and then he states, ver. 22, " These words the 
Lord spake unto all your assembly in the Mount, out of the 
midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, 
with a great voice ; and he added no more ; and he wrote 
in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me;" and in 
further narrating their history, he says, chap. ix. 9, ** When 
I was gone up into the Mount to receive the tables of stone, 
even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made 

with you;" ver. 11, " And it came to pass that the 

Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables oi the 
covenant." This is the national covenant before referred to. 
It was the first God made with that nation. Some may say 
the covenant of circumcision was hundreds of years before 
that. I answer, that was made oott with Abraham for his 



88 TBBATISB ON 

seed after him, Gen. xvii. 7. Stephen says, Acts vii. 5 f 
" When as yet he had no child ;" therefore it could not be 
made with the nation. It respected giving to his seed the 
land of Canaan, and was fulfilled when they possessed it, Neh. 
ix. 7, " Thou gavest him the name of Abraham;" ver. 8, " and 
madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Can an- 

ites, to give it to his seed, and hast performed thy 

word." So the covenant with Abraham was then performed, 
and at an end. 

The next point necessary to present is, that when Jesus, 
the mediator of the new covenant, came, he took away the 
first and established the second. The first argument I 
shall offer is contained in Heb. viii., beginning at ver. 6, "But 
now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how 
much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which 
was established upon better promises;" ver. 7, "For if the 
first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have 
been sought for the second;" ver. 8, "For, finding fault 
with them, he saith " (here Paul cites from Jer. xxxi. 31-35), 
" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make 
a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house 
of Judah ; ver. 9, " Not according to the covenant that 
I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by 
the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt ; because 
they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them 
not, saith the Lord;" ver. 10, "For this is the covenant 
that I will make with the house of Israel, after tho&e days, 
saith the Lord ; I will put my laws into their mind, and 
write them in their hearts ; and I will be to them a God, and 
they shall be to me a people;" ver. 11, "And they shall 
not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, 
saying, Know the Lord ; for all shall know me, from the 
least to the greatest " (of them, as it is in the place cited 
from); ver. 12, " For I will be merciful to their unrighteous- 
ness, and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more;" 
ver. 13, " In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made 
the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old, is 
readv to vanish away." This testimony of the first covenant 
being faulty, old, and ready to vanish away, and superseded 
by a new one in Paul's day, is so decisive that it needs no 



THE SABBATH, 89 

comment. As another witness to the game point, I will no- 
tice the allegory Paul presented to the church of Galatia. 
Some readers may not recollect the Scriptures from which 
the apostle draws his allegory, I will therefore briefly present 
them. God promised, Gen. xiii. 15, to give to Abram and 
his seed all the land of Canaan (when, as Stephen saith, Acts 
vii. 5, " as yet he had no child "). In chap. xv. 4, he is in- 
formed that he shall have an heir from his own body, but is 
not told by what woman. The thing being thus made cer- 
tain to him, we are informed, chap, xvi., of the method Sarai 
took to accomplish the promise, ver. 1, "Now Sarai, Abra- 
ham's wife, bare him no children ; and she had an hand-maid, 
an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar ;" ver. 2, " And Sarai 
said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me 
from bearing : I pray thee, go in unto my maid ; it may be 
that I may obtain children by her ;" ver. 3, " And Sarai, 

Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian, 

and gave her to her husband to be his wife ;" ver. 4, " And 
he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; 7 ' ver. 15, " And 
Hagar bare Abram a son ; and Abram called his son's name, 
Ishmael;" chap. xvi. 5, God changed Abram's name to that of 
Abraham ; ver. 15, God changed Sarai's name into that of 
Sarah ; and after both their names were changed, he said, 
ver. 16, " And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of 
her ;" and after this Sarah heard the promise, chap, xviii. 
10, "And he said I will certainly return unto thee ac- 
cording to the time of life ; and lo ! Sarah thy wife shall 
have a son. And Sarah heard it." And soon the promise is 
fulfilled, chap. xxii. 1, " And the Lord visited Sarah as he had 
said;" ver. 2, "For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a 
son in his old age ;" ver. 3, " And Abraham called the name 
of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, 
Isaac;" ver. 8, "And the child grew, and was weaned; and 
Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was 
weaned;" ver. 9, " And Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the 
Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking;" 
ver. 10, " Wherefore she said unto Abraham, cast out this 
bond-woman and her son; for the son of this bond-woman 
shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac ;" ver. 12, 

" And God said unto Abraham, in all that Sarah hath 

12 



90 TIlEATiSE ON 

said unto thee, hearken unto her voice ; for in Isaac shall thy 
seed be called." These statements present the premises 
from which Paul drew his allegory, Gal. iv, 21, " Tell me, ye 
that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law;" 
ver. 22, " For it is written, that Abraham had two sons ; the 
one by a bond-maid, the other by a free woman ;" ver. 23,, 
u But he who was of the bond-woman, was born after the 
flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise;" ver. 24 f 
" Which things are an allegory : for these are the covenants ; 
the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which 
is Agar ;" ver. 25, " For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Ara- 
bia, and answereth to Jeruralem which now is, and is in 
bondage with her children;" ver. 26, t4 But Jerusalem 
which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." The 
27th verse is cited (in substance though not verbatim) 
from Isa. liv. 1, For it is written, Rejoice thou barren that 
bearest not ; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not ; 
for the desolate hath many more children than she which 
hath a husband;" ver. 28, " Now we, brethren as Isaac was, 
are the children of promise;" ver. 29, " But as then he that 
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the 
spirit, even so it is now ;" ver. 30, " Nevertheless, what saith 
the Scriptures ? Cast out the bond-woman and her son ; for 
the son of the bond- woman shall not be heir with the son of the 
free-woman;" ver. 31, " So then, brethren, we are not children 
of the bond-woman, but of the free." It is evident from 
this allegory, that God has made but two covenants with Is- 
rael. The first was a covenant of bondage. The second is 
as much above the first as freedom is above bondage, Gal. v. 
1, " Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath 
made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke 
of bondage ;" verse 13, a For brethren ye have been 
called unto liberty ;" or as life in Christ is above death in 
sin, Rom. viii. 2, " For the law of the spirit of life in Christ 
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." 
The first was cast out in Paul's day ; the second remains to 
the present, and will to the end of time. 

Here I anticipate an objection. " The new covenant is 
not yet made, for at that time all shall know God, from the 
least to the greatest ; and that state has never yet been, nor 



THE SABBATH, 19 

will be until the milleaium when Satan is bound,'' Rev. xx* 
1, 2. This statement is not new; for more than forty years 
I have heard some good ministers pray God to hasten the 
time when all should know him from the least to the great- 
est, and I wished that they understood the gospel better, 
they would then see that that time commenced more than sev- 
enteen centuries since. It should be remembered that in 
Jer. xxxi. 34, from which the sentence is cited by Paul, Heb. 
viii. 11, the words "of them" are added to greatest and 
least, and also " I will forgive their iniquity," &c.,. evident- 
ly meaning that all those should know God with whom the 
new covenant was made, all those whose sins and iniqui- 
ties he remembers no more, Heb. viii. 12, and referred to no 
others. 

But I shall probably be told that the covenant that waxed 
old and vanished away was not that on the tables of stone, 
but the ceremonial law. I have heard within thirty years 
much about moral and ceremonial law making two distinct 
laws in the Old Testament. I am told that the moral law 
was written on tables of stone, an imperishable substance, 
with the finger of God, to evince clearly that it should re- 
main forever. But all besides that was ceremonial, and 
written on parchment, and nailed to the cross. Who invented 
this distinction (evidently more curious than solid), I know 
not. It certainly is not in the Bible, for neither the word 
moral nor ceremonial is there. The word ceremonies 
occurs once in reference to the passover, Num. ix. 3, 
■" And according to all the cere monies thereof shall 
ye keep it." It therefore evidently has its foundation 
in the inventions of men. The definers of moral law 
with whom I have been conversant, have invariably stated 
that moral obligation is founded in the nature and fitness of 
things, and arises from the relation in which the created 
stands to the Creator, and therefore is obligatory on all crea- 
ted, rational, intelligent beings, whether revealed to them or 
not. This definition is urged to show that although no 
Gentiles were present when the commands on the tables of 
stone were given to Israel, still all nations are bound by them. 
If this definition of moral law is correct, and the law on the 
tables of stone is the moral law, then ^not only all men, but 



92 TKEATISE ON 

all angels in heaven and devils in hell, are bound by it every 
seventh day to remember the Sabbath day, Exod. xx. 8, and 
abide in their place, and not go out of it, Exod. xvi. 29, un* 
der the penalty of death, Exod. xxxi. 14. And angels and 
devils, as well as men, are bound to honor their Father and 
Mother, that their days may be long in the land, Exod. xx. 
12 ; also not to commit adultery, ver. 14; and not to covet 
their neighbor's house, wife, servant, or ass, nor anything 
that is his. But that declaration recorded Deut. vi. 5, "Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart," and also 
that in Lev. xix. 18, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self," which Jesus said, Matt.xxii. 37-40, were the first 
and second great commandments on which hang all the law 
and the prophets, wree not written on the tables of stone, 
but on parchment, and therefore ceremonial and nailed 
to the cross, and no being since then is under obligation 
to keep them. Such are the legitimate inferences drawn 
from this curious division of the law in the Old Testament, 
which shows clearly its fallacy. 

But I have heard another argument for this division of 
the law, which is that the tables of stone are Grod's law, but 
all the other is Moses' law, and was nailed to the cross. 
But in the smallest articles of the law it is recorded that 
(rod spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou, &c, else it could not 
have been given by inspiration. David, in his last address to 
Solomon, 1 Kings ii. 1-3, shows clearly that all the com- 
mands of G-od are called the law of Moses; ver. 3, "And 
keep the charge of the Lord thy Grod, to walk in his ways, 
to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judg- 
ments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Mo- 
ses." These unscriptural statements of moral and ceremonial 
law differ much from Paul's exposition of the subject in Heb. 

ix. 1, " Then the first covenant had also ordinances 

of divine service." Hence it appears that what some call 
the ceremonial law, is, according to the declaration of Paul, 
as much the ordinances of the first covenant, as baptism and 
the Lord's supper are ordinances of the New Testament or 
covenant. And the first covenant and its ordinances must 
stand or fall together, as the new covenant and its ordinan- 
ces will. The Sabbatarians, and others who believe in a mor- 



THE SABBATH. 93 

al and ceremonial law, admit the latter to be done away 
but not that on the tables of stone. I think Paul was of a 
different opinion, and manifested it in other places (some of 
which have been noted), as well as in 2 Cor. iii. 6, " Who 
also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament ; not 
of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but 
the spirit giveth life." By ministers of the New Testament 
I understand those who preach the gospel in purity (not per- 
verted, Gal. i. 7, " But there be some that trouble you and 
would pervert the gospel of Christ"), "which is the power 
of God unto salvation;" Rom. i. 16, Not of the letter (as 
written on stones), but of the spirit; To preach men must 
be of the spirit, John iii. 5, " Except a man be born .... of 
the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" " for 
the letter" (or the law) "killeth" (or condemneth to death, 
for it was added because of transgression, Gal. iii. 19, 
" Wherefore then serveth the law ?" It was added because 
of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the prom- 
ise was made;" and could only work wrath, Rom. iv. 15, 
" Because the law worketh wrath), "but the spirit giveth 
life;" John vi. 63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth;" 2 
Cor. iii. 7, "But if the ministration of death, written and 
engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel 
could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory 
of his countenance, which glory was to be done away;" ver. 
8, " How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rath- 
er glorious ?" When the words of the covenant (which 
were afterwards written on tables of stone) were spoken, 
there was manifestly a great external glory, for " Mount Si- 
nai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended on 
it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of 
a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly;" Exod. xix. 
18, " When Moses brought the tables of stone from the 
mount, the skin of his face shone so that Aaron and all the 
children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him, and he put 
a vail over it," Exod, xxxiv. 29-33. This was all an exter- 
nal glory, an object of sense, to present to the senses by a 
figure, the spiritual glory of the gospel when it should shine 
unto them. But the ministration of the spirit is different. 
It ministers the spirit, Gal, iii. 5, " He, therefore, that minis- 



94 TREATISE ON 

tereth to you the spirit, and worketh miracles among you, 
doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of 
faith ?" It is making men " spiritually minded, which is life 
and peace," Rom. viii. 6 ; " For they receive the spirit which 
is of God, so that they can discern spiritual things," 1 Cor. 
ii. 12-14; " This is the true light," John i. 9; 2 Cor. iv. 
6, " For God who commanded the light to shine out of dark- 
ness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The 
external glory was only temporal, but the spiritual glory is 
eternal, 2 Cor. vi. 17, " For our light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eter- 
nal weight of glory;" 2 Tim. ii. 10, "Therefore I endure all 
things for the elects' sake, that they may also obtain the salva- 
tion which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory;" 2 Cor. iii. 9, 
" For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much 
more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." 
The law on stones, within all its glory, could only condemn and 
curse, Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of the works of the 
law are under the curse." For it could not give life, ver. 
21, "For if there had been a law given which could have 
given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." 
For Paul kept it blamelessly, yet counted all his gain loss for 
Christ, Phil. iii. 6, " Touching the righteousness which is in 
the law blameless ;" ver. 7, " But what things were gain to 
me, those I counted loss for Christ." But the ministration 
of rightoousness is revealing the righteousness of God, Rom. 
i. 17, "For therein is the rightousness of God revealed from 
faith to faith;" and manifesting it without the law, Rom. iii. 
21, "But now the righteousness of God without the law is 
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;" 
2 Cor. iii. 10, "For even that which was made glorious has 
no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excel- 
leth." That which was made glorious was an exhibition of 
the commands to Israel, which could only make sin become 
sinful, Rom. vii. 13, " That sin by the commandment might 
become exceeding sinful ;" and was lost in the excellent glo- 
ry, which revealed the spirit to save from sin. The glory 
of the ministration of the tables of stone, or the first or 
faulty covenant, Heb. viii. 7, " For if that first covenant had 



THE SABBATH 95 

been faultless," was as completely lost in the glory of the mm- 
tration of the second or new covenant or testament, especially 
on the day of pentacost, when, Acts iL 4, " They were all filled 
with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, 
as the spirit gave them utterance," as the light and glory of 
the moon shortly before the change when it rises in a cloud- 
less morning, a little before the break of day, is in the light 
or glory of the sun when it rises and shines in its splendor. 
" There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the 
moon," 1 Cor. xiv. 41 ; ver. 11, " For if that which is done 
away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glori- 
ous." I think it plain from the whole subject of the chap- 
ter, that the contents of the tables of stone with their external 
glory, is what was done away, and that which remaineth is 
the ministration of the spirit with the spiritual glory (as no- 
ted above). This also appears from Luke xvi. 16, " The 
law and the prophets were until John ; since that time the 
kingdom of God is preached;" Mark i. 1, "The beginning of 
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;" Matt. iii. 1, 
"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wil- 
derness of Judea;" ver. 2, "And saying, repent, for 
the kingdom of heaven is at hand." I suppose evidently 
that kingdom mentioned, Dan. ii. 44, " In the day of these 
kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall 
never be destroyed," in which the saints have " everlasting 
consolation, and good hope through grace ;" 2 Thess. ii. 16, 
12, " Seeing then that we have such hope" (of external life 
which God that cannot lie hath promised before the world 
began, Tit. i. 2, very superior to the promise of eternal or 
temporal blessings for obedience to " the law, which is not of 
faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them," Horn. 
x. 5), " we use great plainness of speech," (on this account 
Paul spoke plain, not under a vail); ver. 18, " and not as 
Moses, who put a vail over his face that the children of Israel 
could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abol- 
ished ;" ver. 14, " But their minds were blinded ; for until 
this day remaineth the same vail untaken away," (we see 
here of what the vail over Moses' face was a figure), " in the 
reading of the old testament, which vail is done away in 
Christ; ver. 15, " But even unto this day, when Moses is 



98 TREATISE ON 

read, the vail is upon their their heart," (we learn here 
where the veil is located); ver. 16, " Neverthelest, when it 
shall turn to the Lord the vail shall be taken away." 

I will condense what I consider contained in verses 13-16 
in a narrow space. I think Paul understood the vail over 
Moses' face, a figure of the vail on Israel's heart, which 
was their hardening their hearts, Heb. iii. 8, " Harden not your 
hearts;" Mark iii. 5, "Being grieved for the hardness of 
their hearts;" which vail, untaken away, blinded their 
minds when reading Moses or the Old Testament, and pre- 
vented their looking to the end of or abolishing the law 
or commands, and geeing Christ at the end of it, Rom. x. 4, 
" For Christ is the end " (or substance or fulfillment) " of 
the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," and 
the vail is only done away in Christ when the heart turns to 
the Lord , and all such ought to receive the New Testament 
for their guide in preference to the Old, — the substance in- 
stead of the shadow. 

The Sabbatarians admit that what they call the ceremonial 
law is abolished, but say that on the tables of stone 
is not, for that which is moral must remain ; and although 
the testimony cited from Paul to the Corinthians is so plain 
that the tables of stone with all their glory are done away, yet y 
as they think them moral, and their principal support for 
the Sabbath, they tenaciously adhere to them, and study va- 
rious arguments to evade the force of what Paul says. 

Some r learning from Heb. viii. 13, as above cited, that 
the first covenant vanished away, assert that on the tables 
there was a law given to men, and in the same words a cov- 
enant made with them to keep that law, and that the cove- 
ntnt to keep it is done away through the operation of the 
new one, yet the law remains obligatory on all men. I view 
this statement as incorrect. I think there cannot be in the 
same words a law and a covenant to keep it ; but if there 
could be, and then the covenant abolished, the obligation to 
keep it would be void. But to avoid that conseqnence, it is 
said that the design of the new covenant is to write the law 
which is on the tables in the heart, and not to do it away. 
If so, then every one that hath the law written in the heart, 
or in other words, is born of God, will be heartily deter- 



THE SABBATH. 97 

mined to keep the whole law, and of course will keep the sev- 
enth-day Sabbath holy. This would show that none but the 
Sabbatarians have it thus written. I have supposed that the 
law written in the heart is spiritual, Rom. vii. 14, " For 
we know that the law is spiritual," and was kept mentally 
or with the heart, and not physically, and was not written on 
stones, Deut. vi. 5, " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might;" 
ver. 6, " And these words which I command thee this day, 
shall be in thine heart." This sixth verse demonstrates that 
the words contained in ver. fifth are the law that is written 
in the hearts of those that believe. 

Some, in order to show that the Sabbath is still obligatory 
on the gospel church, and that the covenant on stones is not 
superseded by the new testament, have asserted that the able 
ministers of the New Testament, mentioned 2 Cor. iii. 6, 
" Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testa- 
ment, not of the letter but of the spirit ; for the letter kill- 
eth, but the spirit giveth life," were only new ministers of the 
law or old covenant on stones. I have thought the ministers 
of the New Testament were not to preach the law or Old 
Testament (for they are ministers of the New). If they 
were, the inspired preachers were very negligent of their du- 
ty, for in all the sermons recorded in the Acts of the Apos- 
tles the word law occurs but twice, and then not as obligatory 
on any in future. The first is in Acts vii. 53, "Who have 
received the law .... and have not kept it." The other is 
in Acts xiii. 39, " And by him all that believe are justified 
from all things, from which he could not be justified by the 
law of Moses." This last declaration is very far from en- 
joining it. 

Such as believe the ministers of the New Testament to be 
ministers of the Old, say that the law should be preached, 
for by it is the knowledge of sin, Rom. iii. 20. Reply : Be- 
cause the law is not of faith, Gal. iii. 12, the Jews were 
kept under it shut up unto the faith until it was revealed; 
so that the law was their school-master or teacher, to teach 
them to look to Christ for justification : but so soon as faith 
in Christ was preached by Jesus, Mark i. 14, " Jesus came 
into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God ;" 
13 



98 treatise on 

ver. 15, " And saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom 
of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel;" the 
faith had come, justification by faith was then preached plainly, 
so that the law was then useless, and they were no longer under 
a school-master, Gal. iii. 23-25, " But before faith came we 
were kept under the law ? shut up unto the faith which 
should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our 
school-master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be jus- 
tified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no lon- 
ger under a school-master." I think their exposition incor- 
rect, for the ministration of the two testaments are quite- 
different. The first is the ministration of death, the new 
that of the spirit, as has been shown above. 

Another argument which I have heard, is that the minis- 
ters of the New Testament are not the ministers of the letter 
of it, but of the spirit, for it is the letter of the New Testa- 
ment that killeth. I have thought that, by the letter that 
killeth, was meaut the ministration of death engraven in 
stones, or the commandments, which Paul says, Rom. vii. 
9, came to him, and sin revived, and he died, or that 
oldness of letter in which the Roman brethren should not 
serve, though they were once held in it, for they were deliv- 
ered from the law because it was dead, ver. 6. But if, by 
the letter that killeth, is meant the letter of the New Testa- 
ment, its ministers should not preach the word of the gospel, 
for they are not ministers of the letter. If the apostles so 
understood it, they mistook their commission, for they 
preached the word of the gospel, Acts xv. 7, " God made 
choice among us, that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should 
hear the word of the gospel, and believe." They should only 
have laid their hands on them that they might receive the 
Holy Ghost, as Peter and John did at Samaria, Acts viii. 17, 
and Paul at Ephesus, Acts xix. 6 ; and this would be minis- 
tering the spirit, and not the letter that killeth. I have 
thought they were to preach the word, 2 Tim. iv. 2, " Preach 
the word ; be instant in season and out of season,-— reprove, 
rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine ;" and to "go* 
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," 
Mark. xvi. 15 ; " For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing 
l>y the word of God," Rom. x, 17, 



THE SABBATH. 99 

Others, who think the tables of stone are not done away, 
say that what was done away was the glory of Moses- 
countenance, 2 Cor. iii. 7, " The children of Israel could 
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of 
his countenance." If that was the glory to which Paul 
referred, which was to be done away, then that glory 
which remaineth, to be its opposite, must be the glory of the 
countenances of the ministers of the spirit, or New Testa- 
ment, which glory so far excelled that which was made glo- 
rious in Moses' countenance, that that had no glory, ver. 10, 
" For even that which was made glorious had no glory in 
this respect, by the reason of the glory that excelleth." And 
if by reason of the skin of the face shining, the glory of the 
countenances of the ministers of the spirit which remaineth, 
so far excelled the glory of Moses' countenance which was 
done away, no minister of the spirit or New Testament could 
preach without a vail over his face, unless the people had far 
more courage than Aaron and Israel had, for the people 
would be afraid to come nigh them, Exod. xxxiv. 30. But 
as I have never seen, heard, or read of such shining glory 
in the countenance of any New Testament minister, not 
even of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, I think their 
exposition incorrect. 

I think the glory of that which is done away, and that 
which remaineth, was not in the different countenances of 
the different ministers, but in the different matter they min- 
istered. The first ministered death, to the carnally minded ; 
the other life and peace, to the spiritually minded, Horn. viii. 
6, " For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually 
minded is life and peace." I have thought that that which 
is done away that was glorious, was the ministration of death, 
engraven in stones, with all its glory, 2 Cor. iii. 7, " But if 
the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was 
glorious, . . , . which glory was to be done away;" or which 
is the same, the ministration of condemnation, which glory 
was so far exceeded by the ministration of righteousness, ver, 
9, "For if the ministration of condemnotion be glory, much 
more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." 
But that glory which remaineth is the ministration of right- 
eousness, or in other words, preaching Jesus, Acts viii. 35, 



100 TREATISE ON 

" Then Philip began at the same Scripture, and 

preached unto him Jesus f 1 Cor. i. 30, " But of him are 
ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and 
righteousness, and sanctiilcation, and redemption." 

Notwithstanding all the Scripture testimony presented to 
show that the commands on the tables of stone were the cov- 
enant God made with Israel, some think they were not ; 
and, as a reason, say that a covenant is an agreement between 
two parties, but a command is a law, and there is no cove- 
nant in it. I think the Scripture expresses a covenant in the 
words of the commands, Exod. xix. 5, " Now, therefore, if 
ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then 
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people ;" 
ver. 6, " These are the words which thou shalt speak unto 
the children of Israel ;" ver. 7, " And Moses came and 
called for the Elders of the people, and laid before their 
faces all these words which the Lord commanded him;" 
ver. 8, " And all the people answered together, and said, all 
that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned 
the words of the people unto the Lord." I think here is evi- 
dence that the ten commands were the covenant ; for God 
proposed to Israel to keep his covenant, and promised them 
blessings if they would, three days before it was presented on 
Sinai (see verses 15 & 16), and they all declared they 
would. This appears like an agreement between two parties. 
I know of no covenant made with Israel after they came out 
of Egypt previous to that, or afterwards, except the new one, 
Heb. viii, as noticed above. 

A paraphrase of Deut. iv. 13, " And he declared unto you 
his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten 
commandments, and he wrote them upon two tables of stone," 
is thus expressed by one writer; " And he declared unto you 
his covenant " (agreement) H which he commanded you to 
perform, even " to perform the " ten commandments," the 
law or rule of action which he " wrote upon the tables of 
stone." *Rather more explicit is his comment on chap. v. 1, 
u And Moses called all Israel and said unto them, Hear, 
Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears 
this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them ;" 



THE SABBATH. 101 

ver. 2, I- The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Ho- 
reb." The paraphrase is this : And Moses called all Israel 
and said unto them, Hear, Israel — hear what ? the articles 
of the covenant ? no, but the statutes and judgments which 
1 speak in your ears this day, that ye may keep and do them. 
And to enforce their obligations to keep and do the statutes 
and judgments, before rehearsing them, he reminds Israel 
that they have themseleves made a covenant at Horeb to keep 
and do them. Then, without confounding the covenant with 
thelaw, he goes on to rehearse the statutes and judgments they 
were called together to hear. Thi s author then states what 
that covenant is, which he has so often alluded to but not ex- 
pressed. He says it is contained in Heb. ix. 1-11: ver. 1, 
" Then, verily, the first covenant had also ordinances of di- 
vine service, and a worldly sanctuary." His paraphrase on 
the whole : " The covenant I refer to is called the first cove- 
nant, and was given at the same time with the law. It had 
an ordinance of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. It 
had, moreover, a tabernacle, a table with shew bread. 
It had also an ark, the top of which was called the mercy- 
seat, in which were kept the tables of stone containing the 
law of God and called the table (or law) of the covenant — 
the law they had covenanted to keep." 

I think that Paul, by ordinances of the covenant, intended 
the rites, or solemn external rules, which were enjoined on 
Israel subsequent to the covenant made on Sinai, and not the 
covenant itself. I consider the ordinances there specified to 
be the ordinances of the Sinai covenant of ten command- 
ments, as much as baptism and the Lord's supper are the or- 
dinances of the new or gospel covenant. I cannot discern in 
the Bible even a hint that a worldly sanctuary, a tabernacle, 
a candlestick, a table and shew bread, a golden censer, an 
ark, a mercy-seat, and cherubim, and meats and drinks, 
and washings, and carnal ordinances, were a covenant or 
agreement on Israel's part to keep the ten commandments or 
covenant made on Sinai, Besides, it is said in the para- 
phrase, this is the first covenant, and given at the same time 
with the law, and if so, it must be at the same place on 
Mount Sinai amidst the fire and smoke, for that was the place 
where that on the tables of stone was made ; and if it waB 



102 TREATISE OiN 

the first, it must have been made before that, and that must 
have been the second, and the new one would make three : 
but Paul mentions but two, Gal. iv. 24, "These are the two 
covenants; the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to 
bondage." This Sinai covenant is the one Paul calls, Heb. 
viii., the first and faulty covenant, which vanished away. I 
have not learned from the Scriptures that God made more than 
one covenant with Israel before the commencement of the 
Christian era. The directions to make a tabernacle and 
its concomitants, mentioned in Heb. ix, and there called the 
ordinances of the first covenant (but in the paraphrase 
called the first covenant), were spoken to Moses after the dec- 
laration of the ten commands on Sinai, and are recorded, 
Exod. chapters xxv. to xxx. And if they were a covenant, 
it was not the first, neither was it made on Sinai. 

I cannot perceive how the ideas expressed in the para- 
phrases that have been cited are contained in the Scriptures 
cited and thus explained. It reminds me of a remark of Dr. 
Scott, when examining what he deemed an erroneous criti- 
cism of certain scriptures: he said, u Criticism, in the hand 
of an ingenious man, is like the magic wand, nothing can 
stand before it." 

I have mentioned before that some persons think the new 
covenant is not yet made, but I think that when Jesus com- 
menced his ministry he established it, Heb. x. 5, " Where- 
fore, when he eometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and 
offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me ;" 
ver. 7, " Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the 
book it is written of me) to do thy will, God ;" ver. 9, 
• * He taketh away the first that he may establish the second." 
With this testimony accords Luke xvi. 16, " The law and 
the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of 
God is preached." Also Rom. vi. 14, " For ye are not under 
the law, but under grace." Another is Rom. vii. 1-14. In 
the first three verses, the apostle, for an allegory, presents the 
state of man and wife, and then by it shows in after verses 
that the bride of Christ is not under the law, for that is dead. 
But I am told that the law that is dead is the ceremonial. 
If so, Paul, in order to have been understoood, should have 



THE SABBATH. 103 

so stated it. I will add that word " ceremonial " ia a few 
iustancss, as a sample of what should be through the whole 
subject if the distinction alluded to is correct: ver. 4, 
" Wherefore, my brethren, ye are also become dead to the 
(ceremonial) law by tne body of Christ ;" ver. 5, " For 
when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin which were by 
the (ceremonial) law, did work in our members to bring forth 
fruit unto death;" ver. 6, "But now we are delivered from 
the (ceremonial) law, that being dead wherein we were held ;" 
ver. 7, " What shall we say then ? is the ceremonial law 
sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the (cer- 
monial) law : for I had not known lust except the (ceremo- 
nial) law had said, thou shalt not covet (This sentence, " thou 
shalt not covet," is nowhere else to be found in the book of 
the law, but in the ten commandments, and I think that is 
the law that is dead); ver. 8, "But sin, taking occasion 
by the (ceremonial) commandment, wrought in me all 
manner of concupicence. For without the (ceremonial) 
law sin was dead;" ver. 9, "For I was alive without 
the (ceremonial) law once, but when the (ceremonial) com- 
mandment came, sin revived and I died;" ver. 10, "And 
the (ceremonial) commandment which was ordained to life, 
I found to be unto death;" ver. 11, "For sin, taking 
occasion by the (ceremonial) commandment, deceived me, 
and by it slew me ;" ver. 12, " Wherefore the (ceremo- 
nial law is holy, and the (ceremonial) commandment holy, 
and just, and good;"* ver. 13, "That sin by the (cere- 
monial) commandment might become exceeding sinful;" ver. 
14, " For we know that the (ceremonial) law is spiritual, but 
I am carnal, sold under sin." I think this testimony of be- 
ing dead to the law, and that also dead, corresponds with 
previous statements, that the first covenant or ten commands 
are removed to make room for the second. The Jews were 
married to the law (or Sinai covenant) as their husband, and 
were bound by it as long as it and they lived ; and if that 
is still alive, and they are married to him who is raised from 
the dead, they certainly have two husbands living, and accor- 
ding to the apostle's reasoning in this chapter, they are 
living in adultery. But if the law is dead, and they are dead 
*o that, as Paul has stated, though they are married to 



104 TREATISE ON 

Jesus they are not adulteresses, for they are freed from the 
law (or their husband), that (or he) being dead wherein they 
were held. Also, Paul says. Gal. ii. 19, a For I, through 
the law, am dead to the law, that I should live unto God." 
Any one who views himself under the law can draw the in- 
ference for himself from the premises which Paul has here 
laid down. 

I have heard another objection to the ten commands being 
the covenant that is taken away. Jesus says, Matt. v. 17,. 
" Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the proph- 
ets; I am not come to destroy but to- fulfil." I am told 
that the law here comprehends the ten commands only; but 
I think that it comprehends all that was written in the book, 
the least of the other commands, as well as the ten ; and if 
the least was broken it was a transgression, ver. 19. The ten 
were but a part of what was written in in the book of the 
law, Deut. xxxi. 24, " When Moses had made an end of wri- 
ting the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, . 
ver. 25, " that Moses commanded the Levites which bore the 
ark of the covenant ol the Lord, saying ver. 26, "Take- 
this book of the law, and put it in the inside of the ark of" 
the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for" 
a witness against thee." The Jews were under this law and 
the works of it, and therefore under the curse ; for Paul says, 
Gal. iii. 10, " For as many as are of the works of the law, are 
under the curse," (and then cites from Deut. xxvii. 26), "for 
it is written, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all 
things which are written in the book of the law to do them." 
If the law is not taken away, every believing Jew is under 
it, consequently of the works of it, and of course under the 
curse, as well as the unbelieving. But the Gentiles never 
were under it, except such as were circumcised, Gal. v. 3, 
" For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that 
he is a debtor to do the whole law." Christ says, Matt. v. 
18, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all 
be fulfilled." I think Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets. 
If one jot or tittle of its works is binding on me, it all is.. 
If I, or any other person, is released from any of its works, 
I and they are from all; for it all stands or falls together. 



THE SABBATH. 105 

As before cited, Jesus says, Luke xvi. 16, '• The law and 
the prophets were until John ; since that time the kingdom 
of God is preached." In the chapter under consideration, 
Matt, v., Jesus has mentioned, six particulars. in the law, in 
which his commands are much stricter than the law, showing 
that the design or intention] of the actor characterizes the 
act ; bringing the matter to the heart, instead of leaving 
it external. Three of them are among the ten commands, 
viz: 21, Thou shalt not kill ; ver. 27, Thou shalt not com- 
mit adultery ; ver. 33, Thou shalt not for-swear thyself. 
The other three are in other parts of the law, to show that 
it was not the ten commands only, but all the law he came 
to fulfil: ver. 31, "Whosoever shall put away his wife;" 
this refers to Deut. xxiv. 1, 2, and there the law allows the 
the woman to marry again ; ver. 38, " an eye for an eye ;" 
this refers to Exod. xxi. 24, Lev. xxiv. 20, Deut. xix. 21 ; 
ver. 43, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine ene- 
my." I think this refers to Deut. xxiii. 6, xxv. 17-19. If" 
Jesus intended the law should be the rule, why does he give 
stricter commands ? I think that his directions on these sev- 
several points supersede the old covenant or law as a rule ; ver. 
20, Jesus says, " Except your righteousness shall exceed 
the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no 
case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Some of the phar- 
isees kept the law perfectly, for Paul says, Acts xxv, 5, "Af- 
ter the most straitest sect of our religion I lived apharisee," 
and further says, Phil. iii. 6, ?' Touching the righteousness 
which is in the law blameless." If he had not kept it per- 
fectly he could not have been blameless, but must have been 
under its curse. In ver. 7, he states how he values such 
righteousness : " But what things were gain to me, those I 
counted loss for Christ;" ver. 8, " Yea, doubtless, and I 
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus, my Lord." He plainly saw that such right- 
eousness, which was of the law, would frustrate the grace of 
God and make Christ's death vain, Gal. ii. 21, " I do not 
frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness came by the 
law, then Christ is dead in vain." 

But, I shall be told by those who think the gospel church 
is under the law, that although they are saved by Jesus and 
14 



106 TREATISE ON 

not by the law, yet the church is bound to keep the ten com- 
mands, especially the fourth. They have a very ancient 
example for this scheme of salvation in the Judaizing teach- 
ers mentioned, Acts xv., who came to Antioch ; ver. 1, "And 
certain men which came down from Judea, taught the breth- 
ren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of 
Moses" (If Paul had been of that opinion he would not 
have dissented from and disputed with them, and then gone 
up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about it, as 
in ver. 2). And in ver. 5, certain believers of the pharisees 
thought they should be commanded to keep the law of Moses ; 
but the apostles were of a very different opinion, and called it 
a yoke, ver. 10, and wrote to them that they had heard that 
some which went out from them had troubled the brethren 
with words subverting their souls (this was the effect of 
preaching the law), to whom they gave no such command- 
ment," ver. 24 ; and then gave them directions what to do, 
which was not to keep the law, ver. 28, " For it seemed good 
to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater bur- 
den than these necessary things;" ver. 29, " That ye ab- 
stain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from 
things strangled, and from fornication ; from which if ye 
shall keep yourselves, ye shall do well ;" four particulars-, 
two of the ten (and neither of them of the fourth), and two 
elsewhere. I think that as the Sabbath was such an impor- 
tant part of the law that the penalty for defiling it was death, 
if it had been obligatory on the gospel church, the Holy 
Ghost and the apostles would not have thought they would 
do well to neglect it, and would have enjoined it with the oth- 
er four specifications. 

These law preachers were the greatest impediment to the 
redeemed souls in receiving the pure doctrine of the gospel 
that the apostles met with in their ministry ; for they desired 
to keep them under the law, lest they should suffer persecu- 
tion for the cross of Christ, Gal. vi. 12. Their teaching in 
the Antioch church was the cause of the council at Jerusa- 
lem, and their teaching elsewhere was the cause of Paul's 
writing a considerable part of the epistle to the Romans, and 
also those to the Corinthians (especially the second), and 
those to the Galatians and Hebrews. I think thev must be 



THE SABBATH. 107 

Moses' ministers; for James says, Acts xv. 21. " For Moses 
of old time hath in every city them that preach him." And 
Paul says of them, Gal. i. 7, u But there be some that trouble 
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ;" and then says, 
chap. v. 12, "I would they were even cut off which trouble 
you ;" and then gives such law ministers their character in 
plain terms in 1 Tim. i. 5, 6, 7, " Now the end of the com- 
mandment is charity (or love) out of a pure heart, and a good 
conscience, and of faith unfeigned. From which some hav- 
ing swerved, have turned aside into vain jangling ; desiring 
to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they 
say, nor whereof they affirm." 

But there is another argument offered to prove that the 
law is not done away, contained in Rom. iii. 31,.," Do we 
then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we 
establish the law." This is the law of love, as before mentioned, 
not written on stones, but in the heart, Deut. vi. 5, which is 
spiritual, Rom. vii. 14, u For we know that the law is spirit- 
ual, and is established (or fulfilled) only through faith, 1 John 
v. 1, " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born 
of God;" and chap. iv. 7, " Every one that loveth is born of 
God, and knoweth God." Hence, only those who love God be- 
lieve. And only by love and faith is the law which is now obli- 
gatory on men fulfilled. This law of love to God is that which 
the Savior says, Matt. xxii. 38, is the first and great com- 
mandment; ver. 39, and to love our neighbor as ourselves is 
the second : on these two hang all the law and the prophets. 
And this obligation has no bearing on the perpetuity of the 
ten commands. Love is a moral or spiritual exercise of god- 
liness ; all the other commands throughout the law were lit- 
eral or practicable, and were kept or violated by muscular or 
physical power. Paul says, 1 Tim. iv. 8, " Bodily exercise 
profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things;" 
Rom. xiii. 8, " He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law;" 
and in ver. 9, mentions five of the ten commands, and says if 
there be any other commandment " (at least embracing the 
ten), " it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;" ver. 10, Love worketh 
no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the 
law, Gal. v. 14, " For all the law is fulfilled in one word 



108 TREATISE m 

even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Where- 
fore, only by faith and love (as above stated), the law is es- 
tablished or fulfilled (not made void), which excludes boast- 
ing, Rom. iii. 27, " "Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. 
By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith;" 
ver. 28, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by 
faith without the deeds of the law." This is putting the law 
into the mind and writing it in the heart, Heb. viii. 10. It is 
making the subject of it a Jew inwardly, or circumcising the 
heart, Rom. ii. 29, " But he is a Jew that is one inwardly ; 
and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit ;" Deut. 
xxx. 6, " And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, 
..... to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and 

with all thy soul, that thou mayest live;" chap. x. 16, 

" Circumcise, therefore, the fore-skin of your heart ;" Jer. 
iv. 4, lt Circumcise yourselves to the law, and take away 
the fore-skins of your heart ;" or, in other words, it is ta- 
king away the vail from the heart, 2- Cor iii. 14, " But 
their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth 
the same vail untaken away in the reading of the Old 
Testament; which vail is done away in Christ;" ver. 15, 
" But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon 
their heart ;" ver. 16, " Nevertheless, when it shall turn to 
the Lord, the vail shall be taken away ;" so that though they 
read Moses, they may see they are not his disciples (John 
ix. 28, " but we be Moses' disciples "), but that " Christ is 
the end of the law for righteousness," Rom. x. 4. Therefore, 
as " all the law is fulfilled in one word," even love, I 
think the New Testament church is not bound to perform any 
of its external commands, but must look alone to the New 
Testament for direction, both for faith and practice. If the 
the gospel church is in bondage under the law, it is because 
calling them unto liberty, Gal. v. 13, " For brethren ye have 
been called unto liberty," and commanding them to stand 
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free, is 
entangling them with the yoke of bondage, ver. 1. 

One more argument to show that the christian church is not 
under the law, I will present from the figurative declarations of 
Paul, Heb. xii. 18-24, which I think was intended to show 
the difference between the state of the Jews under the law, 



THE SABBATH. 109 

and the christian church: ver. 18, " For ye are not come into 
the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire 
nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest;" ver. 19, 
" And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words ; which 
voice thej that heard, entreated that the word should not be 
spoken to them any more ;" ver. 20, " (For they could not 
endure that which was commanded ;" ver. 21, u And so ter- 
rible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and 
quake ;) " ver. 22, " But ye are come unto mount Zion (Ps. 
xlviii. 2, " Beuutiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, 
is Mount Zion;" Isaiah xxviii. 16, " Behold, I lay in 
Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone"), a and unto the 
city of the living God" (Ps. Ixxxvii. 3, " Glorious things are 
spoken of thee, 0, city of God;" xlvi. 4, "There is a 
river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God;" 
Matt. v. 14, " A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid"), 
"the heavenly Jerusalem" (Gal. iv. 26, " But Jerusalem 
which is above is free, which is the mother of us all;" Eph. 
i. 3, . " Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in 
heavenly places in Christ;" ii. 6, " And made us sit together 
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus"), "and to an innumerable 
company of angels" (Heb. i. 13, " But to which of the angels 
said he at any time, sit on my right hand;" ver. 14, "are 
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
who shall be heirs of salvation;" Dan. vi. 22, "My God 
hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions 7 mouths;" Acts 
xii. 7, " And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him , 
and a light shined in the prison, and he smote Peter on the 
side"); ver. 23, "To the general assembly " (Ps. Ixxxix. 7, 
" God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints;" 
cxi. 1-9, " I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the 
assembly of the upright"), "and church of the first-born" 
(Rom. viii. 29, " That he might be the first-born among many 
"brethren ;" Col. i. 15, "Who is the image of the invisible 
God, the first-born of every creature "), " which are written in 
heaven" (Luke x. 20, "But rather rejoice because your 
names are written in heaven;" Phil. iv. 3, " Help those wo- 
men which labored with me in the gospel, .... whose names 
are in the book of life "), " and to God the judge of all " 
(Rom, ii. 16, " In the day when God shall judge the se- 



110 TREATISE ON 

orets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel;" 2 Tim. 
iv. 1, " I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his 
appearing ;," Acts xvii. 31, " Because he hath appointed a day 
in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that 
man whom he hath ordained'*), "and to the spirits of just, 
men made perfect " (Eph. iv. 12, " For the perfecting of the 
saints;" Col. ii. 10, " And ye are complete in him which is the 
head of all principality and power;" iv. 12, "That ye may 
stand perfect and complete in all the will of God ") ; ver. 24, 
" And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant " ( Jer. xxxi. 
31, " Saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with 
the house of Israel," Heb. ix. 15, " And for this cause he is 
the mediator of the New Testament " (which is synonymous 
with covenant); Heb. viii. 6, " By how much also, he is the 
mediator of a better covenant;" Heb. vii. 22, " By so much 
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament "), " and to 
the blood of sprinkling " (Heb. x. 22, " HaviDg our hearts 
sprinkled from an evil conscience;" 1 Pet. i. 2, "And sprink- 
ling of the blood of Jesus Christ "). 

I think it clear that the words here referred to, which were 
spoken to Israel on the mount that burned with fire, which 
those who heard could not endure, and unto which those He- 
brews who believed in Jesus had not come, were the ten com- 
mandments which were afterwards written upon tables of 
stone. But the Hebrews, to whom Paul wrote, had come to 
very different situation, even to be led by the spirit, so as to 
be sons of God, Kom. viii. 14, "For as many as are led by 
the spirit of God, they are the sons of God;" and such are 
not under the law, Gal. v. 18, " But if ye be led by the spirit, 
ye are not under the law." This statement of Paul plainly 
corroborates the testimony before adduced to prove that the 
gospel church is not under the law, not even the covenant of 
ten commands given on Mount Sinai. 

Having, as I think, shown from scripture testimony, that 
the New Testament or gospel church is not under the law, or 
bound by it to keep the Sabbath as God through Moses di- 
rected the Israelites to keep it, to abide in their place and not 
to go out of it on that day; Exod. xvi. 29, nor to read the 
law in the synagogue on that day, according to the tradition 



THE SABBATH. Ill 

of the elders of Israel, whereby they transgressed the com- 
mandment of God; Matt. xv. 3, " But he answered and said 
unto them, why do ye also transgress the commandment of 
God by your tradition ?" it becomes necessary to learn what 
the gospel church is to do, and what the christian's duty is, 
from the New Testament. The New Testament or gospel 
church is the body of Christ, of which he is the head, Col, 
i. 18, "And he is the head of the body, the church;" 1 Cor. 
xii. 27, " Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in 
particular." Although every child of God is a member of the 
body of Christ, yet they have not all the same office;" Rom. 
xii. 4, " For as we have many members in one body, and all 
members have not the same office;" for they have different 
gifts, ver. 6, " Having then gifts, differing according to the 
grace that is given to us ;" 1 Cor. xii. 11, "But all these 
worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing to every 
man severally as he will;" Eph. iv. 11, " And he gave some, 
apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; and 
some, pastors and teachers ;" ver. 12, " For the perfecting 
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying 
of the body of Christ;" 1 Cor. xiv. 12, "Even so ye, foras- 
much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may 
excel to the edifying of the church." The body could not be 
edified by the different gifts unless they came together, 1 Cor. 
xiv. 23, " If therefore the whole church be come together into 
one place;" they were then informed how to edify each 
other, ver. 26, "When ye come together, every one of you 
hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, .... hath a revelation, .... 
hath an interpretation : Let all things be done unto edifying j," 
1 Pet. iv. 10, " As every man hath received the gift, even so 
minister the same one to another as good stewards of the 
manifold grace of God;" ver. 11, " If any man speak, let 
him speak as the oracles of God;" 1 Cor. xiv. 6, "Either by 
revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying " (bearing testi- 
mony for Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy, Bev. xix. 10);. 1 
Cor. xiv. 3, " But he that prophesieth, speaketh unto men to ed- 
ification, and exhortation, and comfort." And for this purpose 
the church is commanded to assemble together, Heb, x. 25, 
" Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as, the man- 
ner of some is; but exhort one another." As the church must 



112 TREATISE ON 

assemble for the public worship of God, and to edify each other 
time must be taken for it, and a day must be appointed for it r 
or they would not know when to meet at the same time ; 
and for that purpose the church or the apostles chose (and I 
think by the spirit) the first clay of the week, Acts xx. l r 
" And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came 
together to break bread, Paul preached unto them (ready 
to depart on the morrow), and continued his speech until 
midnight." 

The Sabbatarians say, that the meeting, so far as it regard- 
ed the first day of the week, was in the night ; for under the 
law the day commenced in the evening. They say it is proba- 
ble that the church came together on the Sabbath, for wor- 
ship, and then in the evening, at the commencing the first day 
of the week, they came together to break bread, and at break 
of day he departed and traveled the first day. 

Answer : This is bare supposition, without a hint from the 
Bible; for there is no account that the christian church ever 
assembled for worship on the Sabbath. Luke says (as above 
cited) it was the first day. And Moses says, Gen. i. 4, "And 
God divided the light from the darkness;" ver. 5, " And 
God called the light day, and the darkness he called night." 
Hence, according to the declaration of Moses and the above 
exposition, Luke should have said upon the first night of the 
week. And since Paul says, Rom. vi. 14, ¥ For ye are not 
under the law, but under grace." I infer in the New Testa- 
ment the reckoning of time is changed, the day beginning in 
the morning ; for Matt, xxviii. 1 reads, " In the end of the 
Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week,, 
came Mary " to see the sepulchre ; and Mark xvi. 2, and Luke 
xxiv. 1, both say it was very early in the morning; And 
that the evening that followed the day was reckoned to 
the day it succeeded, and not as the beginning of another day, 
John. xx. 19, "Then the same day at evening being the 
first day of the week." ^This was the evening that fol- 
lowed the day on which Jesus arose from the dead. 

I think the disciples selected the first day of the week for 
public assembling because Jesus arose from the dead on that 
day; and I also think that when John says, Rev. i. 10, "I 
was in the spirit on the Lord's day," he referred to the same 



THE SABBATH, 113 

day as a time well known by the christian churches for public 
worship; although the Sabbatarians say it alluded to the 
Sabbath. But though the short phrase " Lord's day V never 
occurs in the Old Testament, yet when a day is chosen for 
public worship, we find it recorded in the New. As Paul tar- 
ried at Tarsus seven days, he and the disciples had opportunity 
to assemble for worship on the Sabbath, had they been so dis- 
posed. But it is not mentioned. They came together on the 
first day of the week for that purpose. And Paul (doubtless 
knowing the same respecting them that he did about the 
elders of Ephesus while on the same journey, and recorded 
in the same chapter, ver. 25, "that they should see his face 
no more) preached to them a long time, during the day and 
night, that he might give them all necessary instruction, 
and then departed. 

Everything necessary to be known as duty to God or man, 
by any of the human family, whether for faith or practice, is 
plainly revealed in the New Testament, the infallible and 
only rule for the gospel church. Israel's bondage in Egypt, 
Exod. i. 13, " And the Egyptians made the children of Is- 
rael to serve with rigor ;" ver. 14, " and they made their 
lives bitter with hard bondage," I consider a figure of the 
children of God, or of the promise, Rom. ix. 8, "That is, 
They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the 
children of God ; but the children of the promise are coun- 
ted for the seed;" being with the children of the flesh in 
bondage under the the law. And the law preachers, Acts 
xv. 1, and some of the believing pharisees, ver. 5, thought 
best to continue them in that bondage, which would keep them 
under the curse, Gal. iii. 10, from which they were redeemed, 
ver. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 
law." But Peter would not suffer them to bear that yoke, 
Acts xv. 10, " Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a 
yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our Fath- 
ers nor we were able to bear." And redeeming Israel from 
bondage in Egypt, and bringing them into liberty in Canaan, 
is a figure of redeeming by the death and resurrection of 
Jesus, the children of the promise from bondage under the 
law, where all Israel were, those of the promise the same as 
those after the flesh ; and bringing them into the liberty or 
15 



3 1 I TREATISE ON 

freedom of sons in the gospel or New Testament church, 
John viii. 36, If the son therefore shall make you free, ye 
shall be free indeed ; Gal. ii. 4, " Who came in privily to 
spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that 
they might bring us into bondage ;" v. 1, "Stand fast there- 
fore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and 
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage ;" ver. 13, 
" For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty ;" ver. 18, 
" But if ye be led by the spirit, ye are not under the law." 

And as God directed Israel to borrow of the Egyptians 
jewels (their valuable things), Exod. xL 2, " Speak now in 
the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his 
neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, 
and jewels of gold; 7 ' xii. 35, "And the children of Israel 
did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of 
the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold ;" ver. 36,. 
" And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the 
Egyptians, so that they sent unto them such things as they 
required, and they spoiled the Egyptians ;" so the children 
of God, or of the promise, had the prophecies and promises 
for salvation contained in the Old Testament transferred 
into the New Testament for their instruction and comfort, 
for of the gospel day they were spoken, Isa, lxi. 1, " The 
spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath 
annointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath 
sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty 
to the captives." And it is recorded, Luke iv. 16, that Je- 
sus was in the synagogue in Nazareth, ver. 17, in the proph- 
ecy of Isaiah he found this place, and in ver. 18 it is tran- 
scribed (though not verbatim, but more in New Testament 
language, the word gospel being the same as good or glad 
tidings of the kingdom of God or of salvation), Luke viii. 1, 
" Preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of 
God;" Eph. i. 13. "In whom ye also trusted after that 
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation ;" 
Rom. x. 15, " As it is written, How beautiful are the feet 
of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad 
tidings of good things"); ver. 21, " And he said unto them, 
this day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ears, 1 ' And Peter 
speaks to the game point, 1 Pet. i. 9, ( * Receiving the end of 



THE SABBATH. 115 

your faith, even the salvation of your souls; 1 ' ver. 10, " of 
which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched dil- 
igently, who prophesied of the grace that should come 
unto you;" ver. 12, " unto whom it was revealed, that not 
unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things 
which are now reported unto you by them that have preached 
the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from 
heaven ; which things the angels desire to look into," for 
they are ministering spirits, Heb. i. 14. 

Jesus was and is the sum and essence of the promises of 
the prophets, Gal. iii. 16, " Now to Abraham and his seed 
were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of 
many; but as of one; and to thy seed which is Christ." 
The promise of seeing Jesus personally, the prophets and 
Old Testament saints did not receive, Heb. xi. 39, " And 
these all, having obtained a good report through faith, re- 
ceived not the promise " (this was reserved for the gospel 
church, Matt. xiii. 17, " For verily I say unto you, That 
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those 
things which you see, and have not seen them ") ; ver. 40, 
" God having provided some better things for us, that they 
without us should not be made perfect ;" 2 Cor. i. 19, " For 
the son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you, 

was not yea and nay, but in him was yea;" ver. 20, 

" For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him 
Amen, unto the glory of God by us." This makes Jesus 
exceeding precious, 1 Pet. ii. 7, "Unto you therefore which 
believe, he is exceeding precious." And as he is the substance 
of the promises, they are precious, 2 Pet. i. 3, "According as his 
divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain un- 
to life and godliness;" ver. 4, " Whereby are given unto us 
exceeding great and precious promises ; that by these we 
might be partakers of the divine nature." 

These glorious promises, transferred from the Old Testa- 
ment into the New, are the inestimable jewels which the 
gospel church received from the Old Testament prophets, 
which spoiled the law church, because they would not re- 
ceive them, and therefore were cast out, Gal. iv. 30, " Never- 
theless, what saith the Scripture ? Cast out the bond-woman 
and her son;" Rom. xi. 15, "For if the casting away of 



116 TREATISE ON 

them be the reconciling of the world." The New Testament 
contains many new declarations, and directions, and prom- 
ises to the gospel church, which are far superior and 
plainer than those of the Old, particularly that of the Holy 
Spirit, the comforter, John xiv. 16, " And I will pray the 
Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may 
abide with you forever f ver. 17, " Even the spirit of truth, 
for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you;" so that the 
New Testament Church is abundantly richer in spiritual 
things than the Old. God can bestow no greater blessings 
upon any of his creatures, while in this world, than he has 
conferred upon the children of promise in the gospel church, 
for he can have no greater blessing to impart than himself, 
John xiv. 23, " Jesus answered .... and my Father will 
love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode 
with him;" xvii. 23, " I in them, and thou in me ;" Col. i. 
27, " Which is Christ in you the hope of glory." 

Paul has presented this matter to the Galatians in a very 
appropriate figure, by stating that the heir, when a child, 
is like a servant, until the time appointed by the father, 
Gal. iv. 1, " Now I say, that the heir, so long as he is a 
child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of 
all;" ver. 2, "but is under tutors and governors until the 
time appointed of the father." This is the metaphor which 
he applies to the subject, ver. 3, "Even so we, when we 
were children " (of the promise) " were in bondage under 
the elements of the world " (or a command to keep the law); 
ver. 4, " But when the fullness of the time was come, God 
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law ;" 
ver. 5, " To redeem them that were under the law, that we 
might receive the adoption of sons;" ver. 6, "And because 
ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into 
your hearts, crying Abba, Father;" ver. 7, "Wherefore 
thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then 
an heir of God through Christ ;" Rom. viii. 14, " For as 
many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of 
God;" ver. 15, "For ye have not received the spirit of 
bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the spirit of ad- 
option," But notwithstanding the state of liberty into which 
they were called, yet, through the insinuation of the law 



THE SABBATH. 117 

preachers (which tended to subvert their souls. Acts xv. 24). 
they desired to be again in bondage under the law, Gal. iv. 
9, " Whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage ;" ver. 21, 
" Tell me ye that desire to be under the law." 

Jesus commanded the disciples to preach the gospel to 
every creature," Mark xvi. 15 ; and to teach them to observe 
all things whatsoever he had commanded them, Matt, xxviii, 
20; in which I think Paul set the noble example, Acts xx. 
20, " And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto 
you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and 
from house to house ;" ver. 21, " testifying both to the Jews, 
and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ;" ver. 26, "Wherefore I take 
you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all 
men;" ver. 27, "Fori have not shunned to declare unto 
you all the counsel of God;" ver. 81, " I ceased not to warn 
every one night and day with tears." As the duty of minis- 
ters is to preach the gospel to every creature, they should 
embrace every opportunity, whether to assemblies, as Peter 
did, Acts ii. 38, "Then Peter said unto them, repent and 
be baptised every one of you." Or as Philip did, viii. 5, 
Then " Philip went down to the city of Samaria and 
preached Christ unto them." Or to an individual, as 
Philip did to the Ethiopian eunuch, ver. 35, " Then Philip 
opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and 
preached unto him Jesus." It is the duty of ministers to 
preach the gospel to every creature, because men cannot be 
saved without calling on the name of the Lord, Rom. x. 13, 
And they cannot call on him in whom they have not believed, 
and they cannot believe in him in whom they have not heard, 
and they cannot hear without a preacher ; ver. 14, and " faith 
cometh only by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ;" ver. 
17, And God now commands all men everywhere to repent;" 
Acts xvii. 30, And this being the case, it is the indispensa- 
ble duty of every impenitent unbelieving sinner to embrace 
every opportunity to hear the word of God, whether in pri- 
vate interviews, or by coming into the assemblies of the 
saints, when they come together to speak one to another as 
the oracles of God, as good stewards of the manifold grace 
of God ; 1 Pet, iv, 10, 11, " that all may learn and all may 



118 f TREATISE ON 

be comforted;' 5 1 Cor. xiv. 31, or to prophesy (or bear ies 
timony for Jesus) so that they may be convinced of all (their 
sins); ver, 24, and having the secrets of their hearts made 
manifest, so that they will worship God, and see that he is in 
his saints of a truth, ver. 25 ; and receive the love of the truth 
that they may be saved, 2 Thess. ii. 10. The Scripture directs 
all christians to be followers of God as dear children, Eph, 
v. 1 ; and to walk in love as Christ also has loved them, 
ver. 2 ; to let the peace of God rule in their hearts, to which 
they also are called in one body, Col. iii. 15; to " follow peace 
with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see 
the Lord, Heb. xii. 14; to " let no corrupt communication 
proceed out of their mouths, but that which is good to the 
use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, 
Eph. iv. 29;" and as they have opportunity to "do good unto 
all men, especially unto them who are of the household of 
faith," Gal. vi. 10; and to "please their neighbor for his good to 
edification," Horn. xxv. 2 ; and not to forget to "do good, andto " 
communicate, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased, 
Heb. xiii. 16; and " whether they eat, or drink, or whatso- 
ever they do, to do all to the glory of God, 1 Cor. x. 31. 

To the Sabbath as a type of rest in God, and as the sign 
of the covenant, great ceremonial holiness and sanctity were 
attached. God " blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it," 
Exod. xx. 11; and required the Jews to "keep it holy," 
ver. 8-10 ; to keep the Sabbath day and sanctify it," Deut. 
v. 12-14 ; and " to sanctify the Sabbath day," Neh. xiii. 22; 
telling them how they should sanctify it and keep it holy, by 
rest and abstaining from work ; but all this was typical and 
mere formal, outward, ceremonial sanctity and holiness. In 
like manner, numerous other things were hallowed, holy and 
sanctified : Aaron's garments, Exod. xxix. 21, and " holy 
crown," Lev. viii. 9, and the fiftieth year, xxv. 5-30, so were 
altars, tabernacles, vessels, bread, meats, the ground houses, 
temples, &c, &c, many places and things were " most holy ;" 
but all such hallowings, holiness and sanctity were, and in the 
nature of things must be, merely ceremonial and typical, like 
ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness. They were the forms 
and incidents of the law, and were done away with it. Un- 
der the gospel, holiness, sanctity and virtue are moral qualities. 



THE SABBATH, 119 

lading upon the intentions, the volitions of the mind, 
and cannot attach to inamnaite objects, as to times, places and 
things. If Christ had intended to retain any day as holy 
time, he or his inspired apostles would have made it known ; 
and certainly Paul would never have directed one who "es- 
teemeth every day alike," to " be fully persuaded in his own 
mind, 1 ' Rom. xiv. 5. Had Paul believed that under the gos- 
pel any day was to be kept as holy time, he would not have 
tolerated, much less enjoined a full persuasion to the contrary. 

Should any one raise the objection that doing away with 
the ten commandments, and denying that one day in seven is 
holy time, tends to immorality and to lessen man's moral obli- 
gations, a reference to the New Testament will readily show 
that man's whole duty towards both God and man is plainly 
taught there ; and the quotations made on the few preced- 
ing pages show that the standard of duty is very far 
from being lowered by doing away the law and substituting 
the gospel \ and the texts and arguments generally cited or 
drawn from the New Testament, and all the motives and 
reasons founded on health and temporal prosperity, or public 
morals, in support of resting or attending public worship on 
the first or seventh day of the week, are as applicable to the 
first day of the week under the views above stated, as they 
can be in the manner they are usually eked to sustain the 
observance of the first day as the Sabbath. Can there be 
any more reason for imputing holiness to days or times than 
to temples, altars, relics, images, vessels and vestments used 
in worship ? or can a disbelief in the holiness of consecrated 
grounds, churches, utensils, garments, or bread and wine, be 
immoral or unchristian ? 

Long and patient examination and study have satisfied me 
that the view above given is the true Scriptural theory in re- 
gard to the Sabbath, and the only one consistent with the 
Bible. I have endeavored to state it so plainly that any one 
who will car ef ally consider and understand the views presen- 
ted, can pursue the course of reasoning necessary to meet 
fully the objections that may be urged against it. 

Those who are fully satisfied with the current traditions rela- 
tive to the Lord's day, and never have occasion to defend their 
views by Scripture r»f argument, may naturally overlook tke 



120 TREATISE ON THE SABBATH. 

importance of understanding the subject correctly, and see 
little or no use for this treatise; but no one, called upon to 
justify his observance of the first day instead of the seventh r 
can successfully do so from the Scriptures, after admitting 
(as most persons do) that the Sabbath was given to Adam 
for all his posterity to observe, and that the decalogue was or 
is now as binding upon all mankind as it was upon the Jews. 
There can be no middle course, no compromising or splitting 
the difference on this point. The commandments are in force 
unchanged, and prescribe the day and manner of observing 
it ; or they are fulfilled or done away, and we look to the 
New Testament alone, to the examples and instructions of 
Christ and his apostles as our guide on this point. The Sab- 
batarian doctrine is based upon the continuing force of the 
commandments, and if the foundation be strong, and perma- 
nent, and well adapted to sustain the superstructure, it will 
stand ; but if the foundation be entirely removed, the whole 
fabric must fall. 



Note. — Owing to the fact that these sheets were printed several hundred miles 
from the author, and his not seeing any of them until the type had been distribu- 
ted, many verbal, and some typographical corrections, which would have improved 
the work, have been omitted, which it is unnecessary, or would not be easy to enu- 
merate in an errata. 

On pages 72 to 76 inclusive, are many passages in which the sense is impaired or 
obscured by alterations made in the phraseolgy of the manuscript from a miscon- 
ception of the author's views, of which he had no notice in time to correct them 
without re- writing considerable, and re-printing sixteen pages; and to explain all the 
points on which my views are not well or correctly expressed, would exceed the 
bounds of a note. 

On page 73, in the 11th line, read " was told" for " learned/' as I never found 
anything in the New Testament from which I could infer such change. 

On page 75, after the 10th line from the bottom, add "and the difficulty was 
much lessened when I saw that the blessings, of which the Sabbath was a sign, 
must be spiritual and not natural." 



20 Aug. I860. 



a 



? ERRATA. 

On page 0. in line 2nd, for "enter," read " see. " 

On page 9, in line loth from bottom, for " vii." read "xvii." 

On page 13, at the end of last line, add " it ." 

On page 29, in line 15th from bottom, for "v." read " vi." 

On page 33, in line 12th from bottom, for " fault," read " find fault with. '' 

On page 38, inline 3d from bottom, for "ye," read "you." 

On page 64, in line 17th, for " work," read " word." 

On page 76, in line 10th from bottom, for "into," read "of." 

On page 77, in line 5th from bottom, for " Matt." read " Mai." 

On page 80, inline 6th, for "48," read "4-6." 

On page 87, in line 11th from bottom, after " wrote," add " them." 

On page 92, in line 14th, for " wree," read " were." 

On page 94 , in line 18th, for " within," read " with." 

On page 94, in line 9th from bottom, for "has," read "had." 

On page 95, in line 14th from bottom, before " 12," read " 2 Cor. iii." 

On page 95, in same line, for "external," read "eternal." 

On page 95, in line 12th from bottom, for "eternal," read "external-" 

On page 114, in line 18th, for "sent," read "lent." 

On pa-ge 115, in line 13th from bottom, strike oat " exceeding.'" 



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